Lessons And Love
by ForTheLoveOfFanFiction
Summary: Luna Lovegood has been best friends with Fred and George Weasley for four years, but both she and George feel more than friendship for each other. As they begin their fifth year at Hogwarts, will they finally admit their true feelings?
1. How It Came To Be

**Okay I want to begin with a few points; for the purposes of this story Luna is in the same year as Fred and George (as this story begins in Prisoner of Azkaban, they are in their fifth year). I also would like to remind readers that this is only my third story (and one of the first two was only a one shot) so please take that into account when you judge this. **

Luna Lovegood felt a spring in her step as she skipped down the staircase of the _Leaky Cauldron, _hearing the sounds of chatter and china as her fellow witches and wizards prepared their early morning meals.

On reaching the ground floor, Luna was delighted when she noticed several heads of red hair at the far left table...she knew her favourite family had arrived.

''Hello Mrs Weasley'' Luna skipped to Molly Weasley's side. Molly gulped down her tea and turned to Luna, looking as happy to see Luna as Luna was to see her.

''Oh Luna dear, it's lovely to see you again'' Molly gave Luna a quick hug. ''Fred and George didn't mention that you were staying here.''

''It was last minute. Dad has some meetings for _The Quibbler _and is busy for the rest of the week; he thought that it might be nicer for me to come here as I wouldn't be on my own like I would be if I stayed at home.''

''Oh well it's so nice to see you again Luna''

''Morning Luna'' Arthur appeared behind his wife and smiled.

''Hello Mr Weasley'' Luna walked around the table to sit on a free seat. Across from her sat Ron and a very familiar looking raven haired, green eyed boy. ''Hello Harry Potter''

Harry's head shot up from the article on the Weasley's holiday to Egypt, surprised that she had spoken to him. ''Oh um...hello''

''I'm sorry I startled you'' Luna couldn't help but smile, this boy had faced You-Know-Who; yet he still was nervous around people.

''Oh no...I just wasn't expecting for you to speak to me.'' Harry suddenly realised why he recognised the strange girl. ''You're Luna Lovegood aren't you? You're friends with Fred and George.''

Luna smiled, indeed she was; in fact Fred and George Weasley were her best friends in the entire world, and they had been since her second day at Hogwarts.

* * *

_(Flashback)_

Luna skipped through the long corridors of Hogwarts, blissfully unaware of the looks that her fellow students were giving her. She hadn't been at Hogwarts for an entire day yet, and already she had heard the mutters of 'Loony' Lovegood; but she couldn't have cared less.

As she skipped past two identical red heads, they did not mutter, they simply stared after her. They watched as she reached the end of the corridor and two Slytherin first years stepped in front of her. George and Fred both sneered at the girls; who were both terrifically ugly and short.

''What are you so happy about?'' The shorter and fatter of the two asked.

''Nothing in particular. I'm just a very happy person'' Luna knew that these two meant trouble, but she kept her usual dreamy smile on her face and showed no fear to them.

''Yeah I can see that'' snarled the second girl. ''It's sickening''

The first girl looked at Luna's uniform and noticed the blue. ''So you're in Ravenclaw. Considering the fact that you're not scared of us, I would have assumed that you would have been put in Gryffindor; you're pretty brave blondie, but you should really know when to shut up and run away.''

''Wait a minute, are you that 'Loony' Lovegood the people in our house have been talking about, apparently you're a bit of a nutter; maybe that's why you're not scared.'' The second girl laughed.

A crowd of first years was beginning to gather around the three girls, in amongst it was Fred and George; who already had a hatred of Slytherins thanks to the stories they had been told by Bill and Charlie.

''Maybe I am, but I honestly don't care what others think of me. Especially you'' Luna smiled at the fuming girls, causing the Gryffindors, Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws to cheer at Luna taking the high ground and the Slytherins to snarl and mutter nasty comments under their breath at her.

''Yeah well you'll care in a minute'' The second girl took a threatening step forwards, but Luna did not even flinch. ''You really are stupid.''

''One more move Miss Ridgestone and you'll be heading home on the Hogwarts Express in five minutes.'' Everyone froze in fear as the voice of Severus Snape emerged from nowhere. As he appeared many of the crowd ran off, while those that stayed backed away from him. ''As head of Slytherin house, I have the power to make that happen. You will both come see me in my office tomorrow lunch, failure to show up will result in detention for a month.''

Without giving a single glance to Luna, Snape finished, turned and walked back in the direction he had come from. Both Slytherin girls gave Luna a hostile glare before walking away.

Several members of the crowd walked up to Luna and congratulated her on how she reacted, saying that she 'acted so cool' or that 'that was wicked fun to watch those girls faces'. However only two people were actually concerned for the petite blonde; Fred and George.

''Hey, are you alright?'' George asked her as she walked past them. She pivoted round to look at them.

''Oh yes, I'm fine. I'm very use to it by now.''

''Yeah, well, if there's any more trouble just come and find us. I'm Fred Weasley and this is-''

''George, his younger and more handsome twin brother'' George grinned cheekily as he spoke, causing Luna to laugh.

''Bugger off, that wasn't what I was going to say'' Fred nudged his twin.

''Yeah but what I said was the truth so it doesn't matter'' Luna chuckled at the bickering brothers.

''You are both very sweet, thank you'' Luna waved and gave them a big smile, before beginning to walk away again.

''Hey where are you going?'' Fred jumped to one side of her as he spoke, while George started to walk on the other side of her.

''The Great Hall'' Luna's smile got bigger as the boys walked alongside her. ''I've got a study period''

''Oh what a coincidence...'' George began.

''so do we'' Fred finished. As her head moved to look at the twin on either side of her, Luna thought she would soon get neck ache if they continued finishing each others sentences.

''Would you like to join us?'' Fred asked.

''But we should warn you before you answer; we aren't the most serious of guys and we may be a cause of distraction.'' George admitted.

''That's alright, I don't mind'' Both boys grinned as the three of them made their way to the Great Hall.

_(End of Flashback)_

_

* * *

_Luna smiled as she remembered that study period. Most of it had consisted of Fred and George screwing up pieces of parchment and throwing them at a group of Slytherins who were sat across the room, and the rest of it included the three of them talking about their families and lives. By the end of the period, Luna knew almost everything about the Weasley twins, and they new almost everything about her.

''What are you doing here Loony'' Fred called from the top of the stairs. Luna could tell just by his voice that it was Fred and not George, but the fact that she had been called 'Loony' also gave it away. The once spiteful nickname used by those who had judged her; had become a loving nickname Fred used for her; he said that the only thing that made her 'Loony' was the fact that she willing to chose to be best friends with two troublemakers like him and George. George however, had never liked calling her it, despite Fred changing its meaning.

''Hello Fred'' Luna squealed as Fred pulled her into a bear hug. He chuckled as he released her and Luna jokingly glared at him.

''Oi, forgetting someone?'' George said from beside his brother.

''Oh George I could never forget you'' Luna giggled as she jumped up at him and wrapped her arms around his neck; both he and Fred had gotten considerably taller over the holidays.

''Well I'm bloody glad about that, especially when I'm your favourite'' George smirked.

''Bugger off, I'm her favourite.'' Fred argued.

''Luna who's your favourite?'' George pulled back from their hug and looked at Luna.

''Errrmm...if I'm honest, I'm going to have to say Percy.'' Luna giggled before sitting back down.

''Oh lovely, it's nice to know that four years of friendship means so much to you'' Fred said sarcastically, taking the seat beside Luna.

''Yeah, the gratitude of the woman'' George took the seat on the other side of Luna. ''Hey Luna, have you seen the article about our trip yet?''

''No I haven't''

''Oh no wonder...'' George reached across the table and snatched it away from Ron ''...here you go my lady.''

Luna smiled as she took the article from George, wondering how different things would be for her if she didn't have the twins as her best friends. Her life would certainly be a little less interesting; that was certain, but it would also be a lot less complicated.

For the first couple of years, her relationship with Fred and George was simple, they were her best friends; they looked out for her, made her laugh and they all supported each other. But in their third year, Luna suddenly found herself that little bit more drawn to George. He was the more sensitive brother, he thought about the consequences and he was more forward thinking than Fred; who was the more impulsive twin.

Fred was undoubtedly the brother Luna had never had, but she couldn't say the same thing about George. She had felt that way for the last two years, but Luna had no plans to make those feelings known, her friendship with George was far too important for her too risk, and Luna refused to believe that George would ever look at her in the way that she looked at him.

''It was brilliant; you see that pyramid behind us...'' Fred's voice broke Luna out of her thoughts and she saw his finger pointing to the pyramid in the article's picture ''...me and George tried shutting Percy in there-''

''-we would of done it too, but Mum caught us'' George interrupted.

''I'm sure you would have have done it if you had been given the chance'' Luna grinned, picturing Fred and George trying to wrestle Percy inside a pyramid.

''Alright kids, time to get going'' Arthur raised his voice to be heard over the rooms noise.

''Great, back to Hogwarts for another year of excitement'' Fred didn't try to hide is lack of enthusiasm.

''Yeah but were over halfway through now Fred; just years five, six and seven to go'' George stood and handed the article back to Ron.

''You hear that Lovegood, only another three years of having to deal with us'' Fred grinned at Luna.

''I'm sure if I can handle Nargles and Wrackspurts, then I can handle the two of you'' Luna stood up and began to follow Arthur, Molly and Ginny towards the door.

''She's got a point there'' George said, following her.

''Yeah, besides what's a year at Hogwarts without Fred and George'' Fred commented as he walked past Luna.

Luna smiled, she couldn't imagine having a life at Hogwarts without Fred and George there with her.

**Next chapter; Onboard the Hogwarts Express, George thinks about his feelings for Luna.**

**This chapter aims to basically sum up what has happened in their friendship so far through Luna's point of view, and the next will be looking at George's view, but I haven't written in the first person as I want to keep with the style of the books. **

**Please review, and feel free to give me any constructive critisism, as I will be happy to make any small adjustments to my story to make it more enjoyable for you, or if you just want to let me know that you are enjoying my story as it encourages me to write when I get feedback.**


	2. Interrupted Journey

**Okay so only four reviews for chapter one, but I have been slightly reassured by those of you who have put this on story alert, but nothing equals to reviews so please, please, please press that button at the bottom once you have read this. I understand that as a non-canon pairing in a non-canon story attraction to this story will not be huge and I will admit that this story will be slow starting but the good stuff will be starting very soon so please stick with me.**

**I own nothing...damn you JK Rowling**

''What compartment do you want to take?'' Luna asked as she was followed along the carriages of the Hogwarts Express by Fred and George.

''I'm not bothered'' Fred replied. ''As long as it's nowhere near Percy''

''Yeah, he didn't take to our changing of his head boy badge too well.'' George commented, still grinning at his work.

''It's not as if we were being mean or anything'' Fred added. ''Big-head describes Percy pretty well''

''Yeah but his big-head did get us yelled at by Mum'' George interrupted.

''Nothing new there then'' Luna smiled back at them. ''This one's free...and there is no sign of Percy''

Luna pulled open an empty compartment door and stepped inside, George took the seat beside her and Fred sat opposite them.

* * *

''Hey you guys. I didn't think I was going to find you'' Lee Jordan appeared in the compartment doorway a couple of minutes later.

''Yeah that was the whole idea'' Fred joked as Lee took a seat beside him.

''Thanks mate, I've missed you too''

''Ignore him, he's just stressed because Percy got him and George into trouble'' Luna said over _The Quibbler _that she was reading upside-down.

''Oh nothing new then'' Lee smirked. ''So, still hanging around these two morons then Luna''

''Damn right she is. She can't get enough of us'' Fred grinned.

''And even if she did have enough of us, we still wouldn't go away'' George smirked at the girl beside him, but deep down he was completely serious; it would take an army of You-Know-Who's to tear him away from Luna.

The train journey continue as it had done every year; with jokes coming from Fred and George who both tried to out do each other in impressing Luna, discussions over the upcoming Quidditch season and the occasional points where conversation would run dry and an awkward silence would feel the air.

A couple of hours into the journey, Fred and George were discussing the various pranks they had pulled on Percy since hearing the news of him being head boy, when the carriage suddenly shuddered, and the train came to a stop.

''What's happening?'' Luna asked, her voice clearly panicked.

''Hey, it's going to be alright, the train probably just stopped for maintenance'' George put a comforting arm around Luna's shaking shoulders.

''The train never stops'' Lee spoke with a slight tone of panic also, but George still threw him a dark look that told him to shut up; he only cared about the girl sat next to him at the moment.

''Errrm...does anyone else feel cold?'' As Fred spoke his breath could be seen leaving his mouth.

''Yes I do'' The cold only made the fear in Luna worse, suddenly it began to feel as though the only thing keeping her sane was being held in George's arms.

''George, you don't think it's the...'' Fred gave George a knowing look but Luna and Lee were in ignorance.

''I bloody hope not'' the tone of George's voice unnerved Luna even more; in four years she had never seen either of the Weasley twins afraid of anything.

''What do you think it is?''

''I doesn't matter Luna-''

''Please just tell me'' Neither Fred nor George could fight against Luna's pleas.

''Well Dad was talking to us the other day about Sirius Black and about what measures the Ministry may be taking to recapture him, and he mentioned something about Dementors'' Fred spoke nervously.

The train shuddered again; Fred gasped in surprise, Luna moved closer into George's embrace and Lee looked as though he was about to jump on to Fred's lap.

''Dementors...are you sure? But they don't affect us anyway'' Luna asked as her whole body shook from the cold.

''Dementors affect everyone Luna'' George was only just able to speak through his chattering jaws.

Luna cried out as a black shape flew past the window. ''How do they affect people?''

''They take away every good feeling a person has ever had, and only leave them with their greatest fear and pain; it drives most of them at Azkaban insane after a while'' Fred whispered, listening by the window for any sounds; all he could make out was the sound of the wind and rain. He jumped back when screams came from a couple of carriages down.

''What is going on?'' Lee finally regained the ability to speak.

''I'm not sure I want to know'' George muttered. Suddenly he felt Luna turn rigid in his arms, and the small bit of outside light that reached into the carriage was eclipsed by a floating black figure in the doorway.

Everything happened quickly; all the laughter and fun of his life was erased, and all George could feel was pain and loss and fear.

''_Expecto patronum_'' A flash of white light flew and hit the Dementor in the side, sending it hurtling away from them.

As George's sense of reality was regained, a familiar face appeared in the doorway of their carriage. ''Is everybody alright?''

George looked at the face of Remus Lupin and felt incredibly relieved; Lupin had been a friend of his parents for many years, and as the newly instated Defence Against the Darks Arts teacher, he was bound to know what to do when facing a Dementor.

''Yeah I think we're all alright'' Lee replied, sighing with relief as the train came back to life. However, Lupin look concerned as he knelt down beside George; it was then that George realised that Luna was now unconscious in his arms.

''Luna! Luna wake up'' George shook her gentley but her body remained limp in his arms.

''She'll be alright. Has she ever lost a loved one by any chance?''

''Yeah her mum died when she was nine'' Fred leaned over Luna and brushed her hair from her eyes.

''That explains it then; the dementors affect those who have suffered the pain of loss and suffering much more than it affects others. Just give her this when she wakes up'' Lupin passed a small piece of chocolate to George before standing up and walking back to the compartment door. ''I'm going to see if everyone else is alright''

Lupin disappeared down the carriage and left them alone. Fred and Lee slumped back in their seats as George gentle tried to rouse Luna.

''I have never felt so horrible in my life'' Lee said, his voice still shaking slightly.

''Yeah, I definitely wouldn't want to end up in Azkaban that's for sure'' Fred gave George a concerned look. ''Is she coming round?''

''I think so'' George saw Luna begin to stir in his arms.

''Mum...Mum...'' Luna murmured, only half conscious.

''Luna it's alright, your with us on the train; Fred, George and Lee. Everything's alright'' George reassured her as her eyes flickered open.

''I heard my Mum'' Luna's voice was dreamy as she moved into a sitting position. ''I heard the scream she made just before she died''

Tears welled in Luna's eyes and George put a comforting arm around her, hating to see her so broken.

He and Fred had spent the first three weeks of their friendship verbally attacking anyone that dared call her anything other than her name and since then the three were as close as three people could be, and no one, not even the Slytherins, dared do anything that would upset Luna as that would upset Fred and George by association, and right now as Luna wept on his shoulder; George felt her pain as his own.

''I'm going to go check that Ginny and Ron are alright'' Fred gave George a reassuring pat on the shoulder as he left the compartment.

''I'll go with him'' Lee followed Fred out; leaving only Luna and George.

''Here, have this'' George offered her the piece of chocolate, and as sh took it she went quiet. ''Are you okay?''

''Yes, I think so'' Luna snuggled in closer to George's shoulder. ''That was horrible''

''You don't need to tell me'' George shuddered at the memory. ''I can't imagine how terrible that must have been for you''

''I'll be alright. Thank you George''

''What are you thanking me for?''

''For just being here'' Luna gave him a soft smile and he felt his stomach flip.

''Well I'm not going anywhere...whether you like it or not'' George smiled back down at her and put his other arm around her.

As Luna settled into his embrace, George wondered when or if he and Luna would ever be torn apart, and hoped that if that day came; he would be able to do everything in his power to stop it happening.

**Next chapter; As their fifth year at Hogwarts begin, George and Luna find themselves being questioned over their feelings for each other, but will either step up and admit them?**

**Now you will hit the review button...don't make me beg. Please.**


	3. The Feeling's Mutual

**Sorry for the slow update but I've been busy working on finishing off my first story, but hopefully updates for this story will now be much faster.**

**I'm so happy to see more reviews on the last chapter and thank you to everyone who has took the time to review.**

**So here is chapter three...sadly I own nothing about Harry Potter.**

The first week back at Hogwarts went torturously slow for George; he already had three sheets of parchment due and Wood was all for practicing Quidditch in the middle of the night if it meant Gryffindor got the win over Hufflepuff.

The only thing that had gotten him through the week was spending time with Luna, Lee and Fred in those few precious hours he had free from any other requirements.

''I swear Wood is going to glue ours arses to our broomsticks just so that we don't have an excuse for not practising'' Fred complained as he walked with George and Luna to the Great Hall for a study period.

''He cannot be that bad'' Luna said, shaking her head at what she was sure was an exaggeration.

''Yeah you can say that because you don't have to face him at practice-'' George said.

''And everyday in the common room-''

''And at every meal time in the Great Hall-''

''Okay, I understand...'' Luna put a hand over both of their mouths to stop them going on forever. ''...He's a pain, but his passion for Quidditch is admirable''

''Yeah, real admirable'' Fred said sarcastically.

''Yeah, you know what else is admirable; my need to bat a bludger straight into his teeth'' George said in all serious; his tolerance for Wood's need to win was pissing him off big time. ''I swear if he's in the Great Hall I might go hit him round the ear as I walk past''

''I didn't think that being incredibly violent was a characteristic of a Gryffindor'' Luna commented, unable to stop a small chuckle from escaping her as she listened to George vent his frustration.

''Well if Wood keeps up the way he is now; I'd rather not be in Gryffindor, I think right now I'd rather be a part of the Slytherin team. Flint maybe a bloody git, but at least he isn't a psychopath when it comes to Quidditch like Wood is'' George huffed.

Luckily for Oliver Wood, he wasn't in the Great Hall as the trio made their way down the tables and took seats opposite Lee and Angelina Johnson.

Angelina leaned over the table and whispered to Fred and George. ''Has Wood spoken to you two yet?''

''Oh bloody hell, what does he want now?'' George snapped, only keeping his voice down slightly. Professor Flitwick was on duty on the Great Hall and his restrictions on noise was nothing compared to Snape's, in fact most of the room was in conversation.

''He didn't say, he just wants to meet us a five o'clock in the common room''

''Oh I'm sure he'll be asking about the latest pranks Peeves is pulling around the school'' Fred joked.

For several minutes the group sat and did some work, apart from George whose attention kept being taken away from his studying.

Luna was sat to his left; one side of her golden hair was tucked behind her ear showing the profile of her face to him, while the other half was hanging loosely down in waves.

George kept stealing glances at Luna until he heard a small snicker come from his brother. ''What's so funny?''

''Nothing, I just didn't realise Snape had set us an essay on the pretty blonde best friend'' Fred muttered, laughing slightly.

''What are you talking about?''

Fred shook his head and continued to work, a grin still spread across his face.

As the group left the Great Hall heading towards Potions, Luna was laughing as Fred joked about what they could have written in their essays.

''I was half tempted to write 'after adding ten spoonfuls of Snape's hair grease the potion will turn bright green'.'' Fred commented.

''I'm sure Snape would have really taken that well'' Luna chuckled. ''George are you alright?''

Luna gave George a concerned look as she spoke. George had been unusually quiet for most of the study period.

''Erm...yeah I'm fine'' George lied. Since Fred had caught him looking at Luna, George had been struggling to look at Luna in any other way than what Fred had implied. He was noticing the light in her silvery-blue eyes, how her hair shone in the sunlight and how she looked so elegant and graceful as she lightly skipped down the hallway. _''Bloody hell I sound like Percy'' _George thought, realising how sappy he was being.

* * *

''Do you think George is alright?'' Luna asked across the table to Fred as they ate their dinner. George had been held back by Snape after spilling part of his potion on to Angelina's school books; which had then caused them to spontaneously combust.

''Luna you have asked that three times already, and I will tell you again that I don't know'' Fred replied, only speaking partly the truth; he had a good inkling as to what was making George act strange but he wasn't sure.

''He was fine at the beginning of study period; as long as no one mentioned Oliver Wood at any rate'' Luna pondered. ''And he's fine talking to anyone else, maybe I have done something wrong''

''No Luna'' Fred interrupted Luna's wondering. ''Whatever is up with George has nothing to do with you doing something wrong. You can't do anything wrong Luna; doing something wrong isn't in your DNA''

Luna smiled at Fred and was reassured. Fred's attention left her as he caught sight of his brother entering the Great Hall. ''Oh here he is Mr Potion Master''

George glared as his twin shouted at him from halfway down the table. ''Shut up or I'll make you spontaneously combust''

''Bloody hell, did you stun Snape and leg it? You were only in there for fifteen minutes'' Fred exclaimed, ignoring George's comment.

''Professor McGonagall showed up a few minutes ago; I overheard her whisper something to Snape about an emergency staff meeting, I think it's something to do with the nearby sightings of Sirius Black, anyways he let me leave; but he wasn't happy about it''

''I don't understand why everyone's so worried about Sirius Black'' Luna commented as George took a seat on the bench beside her.

''Yeah me neither, I mean the bloke only went and killed a whole load of people'' George said sarcastically.

''Come on Luna, you can see just from his wanted poster that he's a bloody lunatic'' Fred exclaimed.

''My dad thinks they have the wrong man'' Luna shrugged.

''He thinks Black's innocent'' George said in disbelief.

''Yes, my father said that he wrote an article for the Quibbler at the time when Sirius apparently killed all those people, and he said that certain evidence didn't make sense''

''Evidence. What evidence?'' George asked while filling up his plate with whatever food was within reach.

''He wouldn't say''

Fred and George shared a bemused look. They had come to love Luna for her zany personality, but her father had always been a bit too strange for Fred and George; they usually had no idea what was going on in Xenophilius Lovegood's head.

''Hey Fred, did you go see Wood?'' George asked, changing the subject.

''Yeah, he just wanted to remind us of all the times we are going to be out training in the next week''

''Do I want to know?''

''Lets just say; there's more than there was last week''

George slammed his fork down on the table and buried his face into the table, causing Fred and Luna to laugh at his stress.

''George, just think; if all this hard work pays off then Gryffindor could finally win the house cup'' Luna put a hand on George's shoulder and he slowly lifted his head back, causing his some of his longish red hair to fall over is eyes.

''Yeah I suppose so'' He sighed and resumed eating. Fred smirked at how it had only taken a single touch from Luna for George to sudden seem better. ''I just wish that we could win the cup while also having a life outside of Quidditch''

''If anyone should be complaining it should be me; while you two are off practicing Quidditch, I'm going to be on my own''

''You can come watch'' George suggested, and Fred didn't miss the way Luna's face seemed to light up as George spoke.

''Are you sure Oliver would let me, after all I'm not a Gryffindor''

''Luna, it's not as if you're going to go report to the enemy, and besides; you are basically an honorary Gryffindor'' George put an arm across her shoulders and gave her a reassuring squeeze which caused Luna to feel flustered and she caught Fred smirking at her blushing cheeks.

''Well then I would love to come see you'' Luna smiled. George took his arm away and he continued to eat. As he watched his twin brother and his best friend sit side-by-side, Fred thought about the various exchanges that had occurred between the two throughout the day, in fact the more Fred thought about it; the more he realised that Luna and George had been acting oddly around each other for a very long time. But what he couldn't understand was why nothing had happened between the two yet.

He watched as Luna asked George to pass her a chicken drumstick with the sweetest smile on her face, and then as George gave her a charming smile as he passed her one. It was there and then that Fred decided that he would do everything he could to get his two favourite people together.

**Next chapter; Fred begins to play matchmaker**

**As you can probably see; Fred is going to play a big part in this story too because...well why wouldn't I include him considering what crime JK Rowling commited in the Deathly Hallows. But it will all centre around George and Luna.**

**Please review; when you review, I write :^)**


	4. The Plan Part I

**Thank you for the reviews. I would like to say that if characters seem a bit OOC in the next few chapters then it is because of the situation; Fred and George were always the jokers and Luna was always off in her own little world, so there never really was a time when they were in the situation that they are in now. **

**I own nothing...but if could manage to get George and Fred then that would be more than enough.**

Fred sighed and threw his quill down on to the table. He had just finished a three hour Quidditch practice and now both he and George were sat alone in the Gryffindor common room finishing yet another Potions essay that was due in the following morning, but Fred was hardly in the right mind set; the most he had been able to write was the essay title.

''I can't do this'' George huffed and put down his quill. ''I swear if Wood doesn't work us to death then I'll just die of exhaustion''

''Bloody hell, Quidditch practice makes you as grumpy as an old man'' Fred smirked as his brother slouched back in his seat. ''Or does it have something to do with the fact that you've been so busy today that you've not seen Luna outside of lessons''

''What?'' George gave his twin a puzzled look, but a yawn broke through and obscured it.

''Nothing'' Fred held his hands up. ''Just wondering''

George stared at his brother as he tried to figure out what was going on inside Fred's head.

''The only reason I said something was because...actually I don't think you would want to know'' Fred craned his neck; apparently looking around Gryffindor tower, but in fact he was actually hiding the mischievous grin on his face.

''Wait a minute, you can't say that and then expect me not to ask what you know'' George exclaimed.

Fred looked back at his brother and gave a mock sigh. ''I suppose I could tell you...you've just got to promise me that you wont say anything to anyone''

''I promise'' George said eagerly. ''What is it?''

''Well I was talking to Angelina earlier and she said that she overheard Luna in the girls bathroom telling Katie Bell that she fancies some bloke and apparently by fancy; she meant, is almost in love with'' Fred watched as surprised and horrified looks briefly passed over George's face before he masked it with a blank look; the exact reaction Fred had expected and wanted.

''Do you know who?'' George asked, fighting to keep his emotions hidden from his voice.

''Yeah actually I do'' Fred said with a smile, but he didn't elaborate.

''Alright,'' George was getting exasperated. ''Just tell me that it's not someone in Slytherin and I will be happy''

''They're not in Slytherin'' Fred stated.

''Ravenclaw?'' George didn't want to know who this guy was, yet he couldn't stop himself from narrowing down the possibilities.

''No''

''Hufflepuff?''

''Nope''

''Gryffindor'' He wasn't asking; it was the only one left. ''Oh for the love of Merlin tell me it's not Lee''

''It's not Lee'' Fred sighed; he couldn't believe how dense his brother was.

''Oliver Wood'' George snapped. ''It's him isn't it? She was standing up for him the other day and-''

''George it isn't Wood''

''Oh'' George was relieved; he didn't want another reason to want to murder Oliver Wood while he was sleeping. ''Is it you?''

Fred raised his eyebrows and looked at George open mouthed; how on Earth could George not see something that was so obvious. George immediately wished he hadn't asked; he would prefer it if Luna fancied Draco Malfoy rather than Fred; Fred was the one person George wouldn't be able to badmouth to her, and he was the one George would never fight against.

''George, it's not me'' Fred finally said. ''But you're definitely close''

George considered for a second that Fred was talking about him, but he couldn't believe that Luna would ever fancy him, let alone be almost in love with him.

''George come on, you must be able to see it'' Fred was so desperate for George to figure it out he was almost about to shout it at him.

George saw the intense look Fred was shooting in his direction and figured it wouldn't do any harm to simply ask. ''Is it me?''

Fred's big grin gave him the answer he had hoped for.

''Luna thinks that she might be in love with me'' George repeated, unable to believe that after all that time; she had felt the same way as he had.

''Yeah but you can't say anything to Luna, or Angelina; I wasn't meant to say anything to you but I couldn't stop myself'' Fred grinned as George sat open mouthed in surprise. ''George are you alright?''

''Um...yeah'' Finally accepting what he had just heard, a huge smile spread across George's face. ''I'm really good''

George rose from his seat, the happiness still brightening up his face. Fred looked up at him. ''Where are you going?''

''I'll do that tomorrow'' George waved his hand at his essay, brushing it off. Fred watched George trudge his way up the staircase to the dormitories and as he disappeared, Fred gave a small victory cheer.

Angelina had said nothing and Luna had definitely said nothing, but George had reacted perfectly, and phase one of Fred's plan had well and truly been put into action.

* * *

The next afternoon, Fred was walking down the Hogwarts corridors alone: George had forgotten to do his essay the next morning and had therefore faced the wrath of Snape, and he was now busy cleaning the floor of the potions lab without using magic; Luna was looking up information on some of the plants for Herbology in the library; which was where Fred was heading to to put phase two of his plan into force.

The library was mostly empty. The quiet mutters of students could be heard amongst the shelves and the musty smell of ancient books hit Fred's nose as he searched for Luna. He finally found her in one of the far corners of the room, sat by a desk and surrounded by several Herbology books that were laid out around her.

''Hey Loony'' Luna gave Fred a quick smile as he took the seat on the other side of the desk.

''Hello Fred. I'm going to assume that George is still with Snape''

''Yeah, he better hope he gets out in time for Quidditch practice; otherwise Wood will be having him hanged from one of the goal posts''

Luna smiled, but it was weak. A serious look crossed her face and she put down the quill she was taking notes with and looked at Fred.

''Fred I know that you are probably sick of me asking this but; is George alright? I only ask because this morning he just seemed to be acting slightly odd''

That morning, George had been constantly observing Luna to see any signs of what Fred had told him being true and took any opportunity to make her laugh; although it wasn't totally out of character for him to do so, even Fred could tell that there was certainly a change to how George was acting and reacting towards Luna.

Fred smiled to himself; Luna was acting exactly how he had hoped she would.

''I think I know what's making him act strange Luna'' Fred said and he then looked away and started flipping through the sheets of parchment he had written, leaving Luna to look over at him, feeling completely lost.

''Well, what is it?'' Luna asked when it became apparent that Fred wasn't going to explain.

''I don't know if he would want me to tell you Luna'' Fred looked over his pieces of parchment.

''If he doesn't want me to worry then it's a little late for that because I already am worried''

''Luna, there is nothing for you to worry about'' He attempted to reassure her. ''Let him figure out his feelings out on his own''

Luna's eyes widened and Fred put on a guilty look.

''Oh bloody hell, I wasn't meant to say that out loud'' He lied.

''What feelings?'' Luna felt a strange sensation in the pit of her stomach; something about what Fred had said put her on edge.

Fred gave a sigh; as if he was giving in. ''the feelings he has for someone''

''Oh...I see'' Luna's big silvery-blue eyes seemed to be filled with sadness and her usually light and dreamy voice was quiet and weak, and Fred suddenly found himself changing tactics as he couldn't stand to see her so upset.

''Hey Luna...'' He got up from his seat, walked around the desk and crouched down beside her seat. ''...don't look like that, especially since you're the one he has feelings for''

Luna wore a look of disbelief as she stared at Fred. ''He has feelings for me''

''Yeah Luna, I think it's bloody obvious myself, but apparently it's been a lot harder for you to see''

''I had no idea''

''Well now you do and you can do something about it''

''Oh no...I'm not going to do anything'' Luna said quickly.

''Why not?''

''Because if I do something; then I might risk losing George''

Fred rolled his eyes and held Luna's hand. ''Luna, you will never lose George; he wouldn't let that happen, and I can see the way he looks at you Luna; it's the same way you look at him''

Luna's cheeks reddened slightly and she looked down at her shoes. ''So you've noticed that too''

''Yes I have'' Fred chuckled at Luna's rosy cheeks and put a finger under her chin so that she would look at him again. ''George would do anything for you Luna, and I'm beginning to think that he would do almost anything to be with you''

''Really?''

''No one knows my brother like I do Luna'' Fred stated.

Luna's eyes lit up as she smiled sweetly and gave Fred a hug. ''Thank you for telling me''

''Well it was about time that you two got a move on, I just gave you a push forward'' Fred said as he stood and went back to his seat.

''I still have no idea how I'm going to talk to him though'' Luna sighed.

''Luna you can do anything if you put your mind to it'' Fred reassured her. ''Just wait for the right moment''

Luna nodded and tried to get back to her work, but George constantly occupied her mind and she soon gave up on trying to do anything.

Fred noticed the smile that was stuck on Luna's face and he felt himself breathe a sigh of relief. Although phase two hadn't gone as planned, phase three could still go ahead. However, phase four was in the hands of both Luna and George.

**Next chapter; Fred continues his master plan to get George and Luna together, and when Luna finds herself alone with George, will she take the opportunity to tell all?**

**Please, please review; reviews are an energy source for me. If you don't review I could die...okay that was slightly dramatic but I would still love it if you reviewed.**


	5. The Plan Part II

**Okay so this is my longest chapter so far and I hope you enjoy it.**

**I still own nothing (sad face).**

The next morning, Fred woke up slightly earlier than usual, picked up a package from under his bed and quietly made his way over to George; who was still in a deep sleep. It was time to begin phase three of the plan.

''Hey Georgie'' Fred whispered and shook George awake.

''What...what is it Fred?'' George yawned, propping himself up on to his elbows.

''Shhhh...keep your voice down; the others are still asleep'' Fred sat on the end of George's bed and rather unsubtly placed the package beside him.

''What's that?'' George lazily waved an arm at the package.

''You tell me'' Fred said, picking it up and holding it out for George to take. ''Errol just arrived at the window with it; it's yours''

George sat up properly and tore away the brown paper that covered a rectangular box and opened it.

''What is it?'' Fred asked with a smile; he already knew what George had found.

''This box is filled with a couple of Zonko products; it's the things I wanted to get last weekend but I couldn't afford them''

''Oh'' Fred said in mock surprise. ''Who's it from?''

''There's no name'' George looked around the outside of the box and then rummaged through it to double check, but he found nothing.

''Well someone couldn't have just guessed that I wanted all of these things'' George pondered. ''But only you and Luna were with me in Zonko's''

Fred nodded, but inside his head he was seeing himself doing some sort of ridiculous looking victory dance; celebrating his own brilliance.

''It must of been Luna'' George muttered to himself.

''Yeah it must have'' Fred lied. The weekend after he had begun structuring his plan of action was the first Hogsmeade visit of the year and while he was there he had paid close attention to anything that could help his plan. While in Zonko's Joke Shop; George had found a couple of products that he had wanted, but he had used most of his spending money in Honeydukes, so when Luna and George had gone to the Three Broomsticks for a drink; Fred had told them that he would meet them there and had then gone back to Zonko's and had brought several of the products Fred remembered George wanting. He had then hidden the bag inside his own Honeydukes one.

''I don't remember her buying these''

''Well it wouldn't have been much of a surprise if you had seen her buy them'' Fred commented.

''But why would she give me them, it's not my birthday...maybe it's a really early Christmas present or-''

''Or Luna found that this was an easier way to approach things, rather than going straight to talking to you'' Fred interrupted George's thoughts. ''Beside's, you're acting as though this is a bad thing; you got a present; a bloody good one if I do say so myself, off of your best friend and as you said; it's not even our birthday or Christmas''

''Yeah, I suppose so'' George accepted. Despite the gift being a surprise for him, George felt a bizarre feeling in his stomach as he though of Luna doing something like this for him.

''Alright, I'll leave you to get back to sleep...only another hour before we have to wake up''

''Why did you wake me up early?''

''It might have been important'' Fred said in mock defensiveness, before going back to his own bed. Now he would have to wait for breakfast to find out if phase three had been a complete success.

* * *

Fred and George always arrived in the Great Hall after Luna first thing in the morning, and Fred gave a triumphant grin as he saw Luna looking over a box of chocolates; another gift Fred had picked up while in Hogsmeade.

Fred's grin only increased when he saw Luna stash the box away under the table in amongst her books; following exactly what he had written on the card;

_Luna,_

_I just thought I would get you something as sweet and loveable as you are. But don't show them or share them with anyone else. Xx_

''Hey Luna; what was that you had there?'' George asked as he took a seat beside her. Fred suddenly panicked; he knew that if George saw that someone had got her chocolates then it wouldn't be good.

''Oh it was just a gift from Dad'' Luna replied with a soft smile. George nodded and showed no signs of not believing her, and Fred suddenly felt his worry ease.

Just as Fred had hoped, Luna kept on stealing glances at George with a wondering look on her face. Fred knew that she was trying to figure out if George had been the sender, and he was going to make sure that she was certain it was.

As breakfast ended, the three got up and were about to head to the greenhouses when Luna turned in the wrong direction.

''Luna, we've got Herbology'' George took her arm to stop her going too far.

''Oh I've got to go take something back up to my room, I'll meet you there'' Luna smiled and began to walk towards the staircase as George released her arm.

Fred saw a perfect opportunity and took it. ''Oh bloody hell, I forgot my wand''

George gave him a 'how the hell could you forget that' look.

''George go save us a space'' Fred said before running off after Luna, leaving a slightly confused George to head off to Herbology.

''Hey Luna'' Fred caught up with Luna at the bottom of the staircase.

''What are you doing coming this way Fred?'' Luna asked as they stood still on the stairs that were currently pivoting round to the left.

''Oh I thought I had forgotten my wand but it was just in another pocket'' Fred winced as he realised how stupid that made him sound.

Luna chuckled as the stairs stopped moving and she and Fred moved on up the staircase. ''Why are you still coming up then?''

''Ah well...less time in lessons. Beside's Professor Sprout wont mind, she loves me and George''

Luna could quite easily believe that Fred was just trying to tardy off lessons and led the way down one of the corridors that followed off the staircase and headed towards Ravenclaw tower.

''So, did you guess who the chocolates were from?'' Fred asked with a cunning smile.

''How did you know about those?''

''I saw them just as I went into the Great Hall, before you hid them''

''The note that came with it told me to hide them from everyone else; I'm not sure why''

''So that no greedy buggers try to go and steal the chocolates they had brought for you; that's why'' Fred stated. ''Can I see the note?''

Luna hesitated before finding the note and passing it to Fred.

''Huh...'' Fred pretended to study the note. ''...this looks like George's handwriting''

''I did think that, but I wasn't sure'' Fred smiled to himself; his writing was neater than George's and so he had done his best attempt to forge his twins' handwriting.

''Do you know if it was him?'' Luna looked at Fred, desperate for an answer.

''Can't be sure, but it seems like the sort of thing he would do''

''Really?''

''Yeah, George is kind of old school when it comes to romance; who knows you might get poetry next'' Fred internally slapped himself for saying that; he would do a lot of things to help George be with Luna; but he couldn't write poetry if he tried.

A permanent smile was etched on to Luna's face as she skipped off into Ravenclaw tower, with Fred waiting for her outside; also wearing a smile. Phase three was complete, but phase four would bring a lot more difficulty; because phase four was in the control of Luna and George.

* * *

George's eyes skimmed the courtyard for Luna. After watching him and Fred during Quidditch practice, Luna had said that she would meet them there. On their way to meet her, Fred had suddenly stopped; claiming that he had forgotten to meet Angelina and had ran off in the other direction.

He caught sight of her sat cross-legged beside a wall; reading a book and he made his way over to her.

''Hello George'' She didn't even look up from her book to acknowledge that he was there.

''Did you have a really successful Divination lesson or something?'' Luna looked up at him puzzled. ''How'd you know it was me and not Fred?''

''You shuffle your feet more when you walk'' Luna replied.

''Oh'' George nodded and took a seat on the ground in front of her. ''You're suck with me I'm afraid; Fred said that he had forgotten to meet Angelina''

''He's been acting very oddly lately'' Luna commented as she put her book down beside her and looked across to George.

''Yeah he has'' George agreed. ''Probably the stress of everything going on at the moment''

Luna smiled. ''You threaten to get violent, and Fred just acts strange''

''Exactly''

Luna pulled out a couple of the chocolates that she had put into her pocket and began to unwrap them.

''Whatcha got there?'' George asked.

Luna looked up in panic; was he pretending not to know what they were, or did he genuinely not know because he didn't give them to her.

''Oh...they're just chocolates'' Luna mumbled and put one into her mouth.

''Pretty fancy looking chocolates if you ask me'' George said, observing the fancy paper that the chocolates were wrapped in. ''Where'd you get them from?''

Luna looked up at George wearily; why would he ask something like that if it had been him?

''I'm not sure'' Luna rummaged through her pocket and decided the best way to find out would be to show George the note that she had shown Fred. ''But this came with it''

George took the note and began to read, and Luna noticed an expression on George's face that she had never seen before.

''Wow, it seems as though you've got a secret admirer Luna'' George handed back the note while staring at the ground between them.

''Yes, it seems that way'' Luna said sadly; it definitely wasn't George. ''I thought I knew who it was but I was wrong''

''Who'd you think it was?'' George pretended to not be as interested as he actually was.

''It doesn't matter'' Luna looked at her hands and spoke with a quiet voice.

''It obviously does Luna'' George said sincerely; he hated the idea that someone else may like Luna, but he hated how sad she was even more. ''Who did you think it was?''

''You'' Luna's reply was so quiet that George couldn't believe what she had said.

''Me?''

Luna nodded but avoided making eye contact with him.

''Luna...'' George moved forward, sat beside her and put a comforting arm across her shoulders. ''...it wasn't me...but I wish it had been''

Luna's head shot up and straight into his eyes. ''Really?''

''Yeah'' A nervous laugh escaped George.

''I wish it had been you too'' Luna smiled at him. ''Even Fred thought it was you''

''Really? How'd he figure that out?'' George asked.

''I showed him the note and he said that it was your handwriting''

''He did?'' George took the note that Luna still held in her hand and looked over it again. ''This writing's too neat to be mine; it looks kind of like...''

''What is it George?'' Luna looked at him worriedly as he trailed off.

''I think Fred wrote this''

Luna hadn't expected that response. ''Why would Fred write it and then say it was you?''

George didn't respond for several moments as his brain moved like clockwork to try and put things together. ''Luna did you send me anything recently?''

''No''

''So you didn't send me a box of Zonko products?'' George confirmed.

''No'' Luna looked at the inquisitive look on George's face. ''George, what are you thinking?''

''I got a box of Zonko products yesterday morning; Fred said that Errol had delivered it but the sender didn't leave a name. Fred and I thought it was from you''

''I'm struggling to see where you're going with this George?''

''I think Fred is up to something'' George suddenly went wide eyed and stared straight into Luna's eyes. ''Luna did Fred happen to tell you that I liked you?''

Luna hesitated before she answered. ''Yes, he said that you had feelings for me''

''He said that Angelina had told him that she had heard you telling Katie Bell that you had feelings for me too''

''Why would Fred do that?''

George wore that mischievous Weasley grin on his face. ''Because he's an interfering git; that's why''

Luna was still confused and her expression told George that loud and clear.

''Luna, you have been my best friend for over four years and for a little while now my feelings for you have become more than the ones you get for your best friend...I think that Fred knows this and was trying to help me admit that you''

Luna beamed at George. ''I don't think it was just you''

''What?''

''I may not have said anything to Katie Bell like Fred said I did, but I do have feelings for you''

George observed her for any signs that she was kidding; he couldn't believe what she had said. ''You're serious...I've spent the last year or so not saying anything because I didn't think you felt the same way''

Luna giggled. ''Me neither''

''I guess Fred must have seen what we didn't'' George smiled.

''It seems that way''

After several moments the pair stopped their chuckling and they were left lost for words in a very tense atmosphere.

''So...'' George sat and searched for any word that would come to mind. ''...what should we do now?''

''Errr...we could go and sit in the Great Hall; it's getting a bit cool out here''

''Okay'' George and Luna went to stand up at the same time and they found their faces just an inch or two away from each others. Both found themselves unable to move and George was fighting every temptation to move in for a kiss, unaware that Luna was doing the same.

''Hey George...'' Fred had seen them talking as he arrived in the courtyard but was surprised to see the two inches away from each other when he reached them. ''Oh...um...bloody hell''

The pair jumped away from each other as they heard Fred's voice.

Fred gave an uncomfortable laugh. ''Sorry...um...I was just coming to tell you that Wood wants to see us all in the common room''

''Right'' George nodded and gathered his things together. ''I'll see you later Luna''

''Bye George'' Luna gave him a sweet smile which caused him to stop moving and to just stare at her for several seconds, before he remembered what he should be doing.

Fred wanted to smack his own head into a wall; he saw what they were about to do. His plan had been successful, and then he had gone and ruined it. He may not have smacked it against the wall, but as George caught up with him as they entered the school, his felt a hard slap around the back of his head.

''Meddling git''

''You're welcome'' Fred said sincerely.

**Next chapter; As the Quidditch match draws close, Luna and George find hardly any time to be together, and George confronts Fred about his interfering.**

**Please review. You review; I write. That is my promise to you, so please press that button.**


	6. Free Time

**Thank you to those reviewers who keep up the constant reviews; I appreciate them so much.**

**I still own nothing...maybe that will change one day...I hope.**

Five days before the big match against Hufflepuff the Gryffindor Quidditch team found themselves being called by Wood to practice at half past four, immediately after lessons had ended for that day, and it was only four hours later when he finally let them leave.

The Gryffindor common room was filled with students either doing homework or just sitting around as Harry, Fred and George trudged their way towards their dormitories; the rest of team had headed off to find any form off food, but George, Fred and Harry's fatigue over powered their hunger. Harry considered heading over to Ron and Hermione, but on hearing them sniping at each other; he continued to follow Fred and George.

On reaching their dorm, Fred collapsed backwards on to his bed and George walked over to sit by an open window as he felt stifled by how hot he felt; neither had changed out of their scarlet and gold Quidditch gear.

''I don't think I can move my arm'' Fred complained. One of the practices has included Wood sending bludgers at the pair so that they could practice their batting; a practice that had lasted an hour, and had required the twins to do much more hitting than they would ever do in a match.

''I tell you what; the pain would have been worth it if I had managed to smack one of those bludgers at Wood'' George smirked from his seat on the windowsill.

''Yeah, you would have got him with that one that skimmed his ear if he hadn't moved in time'' Fred chuckled at the memory of George's increasingly violent swings, ending when he had sent a bludger flying into the Forbidden Forest.

''Yeah, I should have distracted him first before I swung it at him'' George commented. ''I mean four hours; I'm sure they don't practice this hard for the world cup''

Fred nodded. ''How the hell can he be doing his NEWTs as well as all this practice? I can already tell that I'm going to fail my OWLs''

''I don't know'' George shook his head. ''I don't think he really cares about them at the moment''

''At least it will all be over in five days'' Fred sighed, wishing that he could just magically teleport himself into the future.

''Yeah I suppose so'' George closed the window and then took a seat on his bed. ''I just hope it's all worth it''

''Something tells me that if we lose; Wood will either drown himself in the lake or you'll kill him first'' Fred laughed.

''Yeah maybe'' George muttered. Fred sat up and looked over at his brother.

''You don't seem to be as angry as usual. Lately whenever someone mentions Wood's name you look like you want to punch a wall''

''I'm just tired''

A suspicious look crossed Fred's face. ''Or did you by any chance spend some alone time with Luna today?''

''In the last week I've only ever seen Luna at breakfast and during lessons. The last time I was alone with her was when you came along and ruined everything'' George gave Fred a look that said he didn't want to talk about it.

Ever since that moment in the courtyard, on the rare opportunity where he and Fred weren't practicing; George found that Luna was acting the same way with him as she always had done which both comforted him and worried him; he was happy to see that their was nothing awkward between them, but what worried him was whether she was acting the same because she had simply wanted it to be as if nothing had ever happened.

''Don't start feeling sorry for yourself'' Fred instructed as he took note of George's defeated look. ''It would be much easier for you to see how she looks at you if you had eyes on the back of your head''

George shot his brother a confused look.

Fred smiled; how could something so obvious to him seem so ridiculous for George to contemplate. ''Whenever you talk she smiles, if you so much as touch her she goes red and to be honest; I'm pretty sure that I've caught her checking out your arse a couple of times''

The last point; George had not expected. ''Somehow I can't see Luna being the type of girl who would check out my arse''

''Well the reason you can't see it is because for her to check out your arse; you would need to be facing away from her'' Fred said in a matter-of-fact tone.

George rolled his eyes, but inside he was relieved to see that Fred had noticed the things that he had missed. ''Fred, can I ask you something?''

Fred noted the seriousness in George's voice. ''Sure''

''Why did you go to so much trouble to try and get me and Luna together?''

Fred smiled; the answer seemed so obvious to him. ''Because I want you two to be together. Because you're not just my twin brother; you're my best friend. I kept on seeing the way you looked at her, and I could see her look at you in the same way. When I realised that it had been like that for a while, I decided to interfere so that you would get a move on and be together''

''Fair enough'' George's smile went from one of humour to gratitude. ''Thanks Fred''

''No problem'' Fred kicked off his boots and knee and elbow pads. ''Just promise me that you'll talk to Luna tomorrow''

George knew that Fred said talk in the context of more than general conversation. ''I will if Wood gives me the chance''

* * *

The next day; Wood's regime of practice was no better; a notice on the Gryffindor notice board told Fred and George that they would both be practicing during lunch and after lessons.

''Maybe Wood will let us have a day off if we offer to spike the Hufflepuff team drinks'' Fred commented as he and George made their way to Potions after their lunchtime practice.

''Maybe, or we could just spike Woods drink; it would save time and poison'' George smirked.

As they entered the corridor to the Potions lab, George stopped when he noticed the only other person who had arrived; Luna was sat up against the wall beside the door to the lab, reading the newest edition of The Quibbler.

''Hey Luna'' Fred greeted her cheerfully, and as she noticed their arrival, she pushed herself up.

''Hello Fred'' Luna smiled as Fred walked over to her and gave her a brotherly bear hug. She looked over Fred's shoulder at George; who was slowly making his way over as well. ''I hope you didn't try knocking out Wood again George''

''No, the sneaky git kept moving out of the way before I could even try'' George said as Fred released Luna from the hug.

Fred dropped his books on to the ground by the wall and looked between the two.

''Oh Merlin's arse I forgot my potions essay! I'll be right back'' George and Luna watched as Fred ran off down the corridor and left them alone.

''Since when did Fred ever care about his potion essays'' Luna commented as she turned back to George.

''Since he never learned how to keep his nose out of things'' George replied. ''So...how's it been being almost completely Weasley free for the last week?''

''Quiet'' Luna smiled. ''But it will be nice to have my two best friends back after the match''

''I don't know about that. If we lose then Wood will probably get us with the killing curse while we're sleeping'' George joked.

''I promise to avenge you if he does'' Luna giggled.

''I appreciate that'' George's jokey smile fell and he went serious. ''Luna, is everything alright between us?''

''Of course it is'' She replied sincerely. ''Why?''

''I'm just paranoid'' George spoke as if to brush off the subject but Luna's stern look told him that she didn't want to.

''George, I know things can't be the same; and by the looks of things I don't think Fred will let them be the same, but I want you to know that no matter what happens between us; things will never be not alright''

George opened his arms to her and she snuggled into his embrace, resting her head on his chest; listening to his heartbeat pick up speed as she put her arms around his back.

''Maybe for now we should leave things this way between us; since you're going to be so busy with practice'' Luna said softly as she looked up at him.

''You do realise that that will give me yet another reason to hate Wood'' George murmured into Luna's golden hair.

''Yes I do'' Luna pulled away from George and began to hear the sounds of other students coming down the corridor. ''But just remember that I'm going to be watching you at that match; so I better see that all that time away from me has been a benefit to you''

Luna quickly stood on her tiptoes and gave George a brief kiss on the lips before they were joined by their fellow students including Fred; quite obviously without the essay he had claimed to have left behind.

Fred noticed the redness of George's cheeks and saw the close proximity that his brother and Luna were stood in. He went to pick up his books and whispered in George's ear. ''You're welcome...again''

George hadn't ever worn a smile on his face when he had entered Snape's Potions lab, but on that day; the smile couldn't be removed from his face. Now more than ever before, George needed the Quidditch match to be over with; it meant more time spent with Luna, and it meant more time to love Luna.

**Next chapter; The Quidditch match brings grim defeat for Gryffindor, but George may gain something much more important.**

**So I'm going to stick to the deal that when you guys review; I write. So review...please.**


	7. Gryffindor vs Hufflepuff

**So I'm back with chapter seven and it's the big quidditch match at last. I don't want to beg, but I would really appreciate any reviews at the moment as my story traffic is down and reviews are my only way of seeing who is reading this story...so if you only review one or two chapters please make it the ones around now.**

**I own nothing about Harry Potter.**

The morning of the Quidditch match was one of tension and animosity. Gryffindor and Hufflepuff, along with Ravenclaw, had always been allied houses; well and truly separated from Slytherin, but as George and Fred walked down the tables at breakfast, all they could see was the glares of Gryffindors burning holes into the backs of the Hufflepuffs skulls.

''Bloody hell, it looks as though Wood's need to win the house cup this year has spread to everyone else'' George muttered to Fred.

Luna was sat in between Harry and Ginny on the Gryffindor table with Ron and Hermione sat opposite; it looked as though they were helping Harry with his nerves.

''Don't worry Harry'' George leaned in between Harry and Luna and put a hand on Harry's shoulder.

''Yeah, you're the best seeker we've ever had; if you can't win it for us, no one will'' Fred said, taking the empty space on the other side of Harry.

''That probably isn't going to make him feel any better Fred'' Luna told him, looking around George and Harry to see him.

''No it doesn't'' Harry murmured with nose nearly in his cereal.

''Look Harry, I know Wood's been a bit of an arse lately and that hasn't helped us any. But despite what Wood says; we can still win the cup even if we lose today. Hufflepuff will never get the win over Slytherin even with Diggory as seeker, and Ravenclaw are good but not that good - sorry Luna - so as long as we beat Slytherin we will probably get the cup''

Harry seemed to look less anxious as George finished. ''I didn't think of it like that''

''That's Wood's fault, he's acting like we'll all be executed at dawn if we don't win'' Fred complained.

''I think that Wood is a great captain'' Hermione commented while looking down at her copy of The Daily Prophet.

''Why's that Granger?'' George asked as he moved to sit in between Luna and Harry.

''Because he's loyal and willing to do his very hardest to succeed; all the qualities of a true Gryffindor'' She replied.

''Actually, I think you'll find that the qualities of a Gryffindor are bravery and loyalty'' Fred countered, mocking Hermione's know-it-all tone of voice.

''Exactly, the sorting hat never said anything about torturing your Quidditch team half to death in order to win'' George added.

Hermione just shook her head and did not give them a response; which Fred and George took as a sign that they had won the argument.

Ron smirked as he watched someone other than himself get Hermione irritated, but his smirk disappeared as he looked over to the doors of the Great Hall. ''Oh bloody hell, Wood's coming''

Luna could have sworn that Fred and George were about to hide under the table, but it was obvious that Oliver had spotted them as he briskly walked their way.

''Pretend we haven't seen him'' George whispered to the group.

''Hello Oliver'' Luna greeted him with a smile as he sat down beside Ron on the other side of the table, and George just scowled at her, which made her laugh lightly.

''Hello Luna'' Oliver returned her a kind smile. ''Alright you three, we are meeting in the Gryffindor changing rooms at half past ten prompt; there we will go over our methods of defence and attack''

''What, just like we did yesterday-'' George quipped.

''And the day before that-'' Fred added.

''Yeah and the day-''

''I'll see you then'' Oliver spoke over the twins' rambling and then got up again and moved down the table to where Angelina and Katie were eating.

''You two are so rude'' Ginny said disapprovingly.

''Why are all the women defending him?'' George asked Fred. ''First Luna does it, then Hermione and now Ginny''

Fred just shrugged his shoulders.

Harry began to rise from his seat. ''I can't eat anymore, I'm going upstairs to get changed into my Quidditch gear''

''We'll go with you Harry'' George said as he and Fred stood as well. George opened his arms out for Luna. ''Any chance of a good luck hug''

Luna smiled and stood up too, walking into George's embrace. ''Good luck''

Just as George went to pull away, Luna pulled him back and gave him a soft kiss on the lips. ''For extra luck''

George smiled and went slightly red.

''Oi, what about me?'' Fred complained as he came up to Luna.

''Hug or kiss?'' Luna asked.

''Whichever'' Fred joked, earning a whack around the arm from George.

Luna gave Fred a hug and chuckled at his pouty face. ''I'll kiss you if you win''

Fred gave George a big smirk, and George whacked him again. ''If you go near her after the match I swear to Merlin that I will stick my bat through your skull''

''Luna, do you hear how violent he is?'' Fred's couldn't stop himself from choking with laughter.

''Okay, both of you just go'' Luna pushed them both in the direction of the door. She could still hear Fred laugh and see George hit as they walked out with Harry chuckling at their actions.

* * *

Luna was still shivering as she waited in the Great Hall. The horrid weather conditions had managed to soak through her clothes and had drenched her long hair and as she sat and waited for George and Fred, she could feel the cold spreading to her toes.

Not that she was going to complain; she wasn't the one who had been flying around on a broomstick, and she was mostly thankful that neither George nor Fred had been knocked off their brooms; they had been a lot luckier than Harry, who as far as she knew, was still unconscious.

The Hufflepuffs were celebrating; two boys who Luna recognised as Hufflepuff chasers had picked up Cedric Diggory and were chanting 'Diggory! Diggory!', while the Gryffindors looked dejectedly at their food.

She had been waiting for around twenty five minutes when Fred and George finally arrived in the Great Hall; still in their Quidditch gear, and still covered in mud and dirt.

''Is everything alright?'' Luna rushed over to them as soon as she saw them.

''Yeah, Harry woke up a few minutes ago-'' Fred replied.

''-But no one has seen Wood since the match and we're getting slightly concerned'' George added.

''And are you both alright?''

''Don't worry about us Luna; we're invincible'' Fred smiled as he picked up a bread roll off the table and began to eat.

Luna gave George a pleading look that told him to give a genuine answer.

''Luna we're fine; just soaking wet and in desperate need of a shower'' George insisted and put an arms across her shoulders. He quickly snatched it away again when he noticed the water from his robes soaking her jumper. ''Sorry''

''Don't be'' Luna wrapped her arms around George's waist; she wasn't going to get drier any time soon.

Fred raised his eyebrows at George from his seat on one of the benches as he chewed on his bread roll and George glared back in a way that told him to stop it.

When Luna released her hold on George, she chuckled as she brushed off the bits of dirt that had culminated on him.

''Right I'm going to go get cleaned up, and maybe check to see that Wood hasn't actually drowned himself'' George said.

''I ill ee air im a mimit'' Both Luna and George shared confused looks as Fred spoke while having around half of a cup cake in his mouth. He cleared his throat and then spoke again. ''I'll be there in a minute; I'm hungrier than a troll living off dandelions at the moment''

Fred grabbed another handful of nearby food and went to chat with Ginny.

''I'll see you in a bit Luna'' George walked towards the doors of the Great Hall, but Luna followed.

''I'm going to go to my common room to get some clothes that are a little less of an ode to the natural elements'' Luna smiled down at her dirt covered and water soaked jumper and walked alongside George towards the staircase.

George was commiserated by several members of Gryffindor who were walking in the opposite direction and Luna noticed the sad look on his face.

''Are you alright George?''

''I told you I'm fine'' He insisted.

''You're fine physically, but I'm sure that match meant a lot more to you than you would want me to believe'' Luna shot a knowing look up at him.

''Yeah, I suppose it did'' George sighed. He suddenly lurched to one side as the stairway they were stood on swept off to the right.

They stayed quiet as they weaved around the crowd of students moving around the school, but Luna was ready to restart the conversation as soon as they left the staircase and made their way down one of the quieter corridors.

''You said yourself this morning; there is still a good chance of Gryffindor winning the cup''

''I know, but I've been a beater for around three years and I have never worked so hard for a single match'' George sounded exasperated. ''It just doesn't seem worth it now; I could have been spending all that time getting ready fr our exams''

''Getting ready for exams!'' Luna repeated in disbelief. ''Who are you and what have you done with George Weasley?''

George laughed as they turned the corner and entered the corridor which housed the entrance to Ravenclaw tower. ''Alright, maybe not getting ready for exams; but it was still a lot of time wasted where I could have been with...''

''With?'' Luna asked as George stopped walking and came to a stop in the middle of the corridor.

''...with you'' He smiled apprehensively. ''It sounded a lot less lame in my head''

''I'm sure it did'' Luna turned her back on the entrance to Ravenclaw tower and stood in front of him. ''But it still sounded pretty sweet to me''

''Oh...well...that's one thing I suppose'' He nervously ran his hand through his red hair. ''I'm going to make my way towards the showers. I'll see you in a bit''

George turned to walk back towards the previous corridor (having unintentionally escorted Luna back to her common room) but he didn't get the chance to start walking before Luna's voice came from over his shoulder. ''Just one thing George''

George pivoted back to her, but before he could ask her what was wrong, she jumped into his arms and brought her lips to his. George had only experienced two kisses with Luna before, and they had only lasted a second or two; but that was more than enough for him. But it surprised him how a girl who appeared to be so sweet and innocent; could do such things with her tongue like she was doing at that moment.

When Luna released him, he simply stared at her wide eyed and lost for words.

''That was my way of letting you know that we can always make up for that time we lost while you were at Quidditch practice'' Luna gave George a huge smile before skipping down the corridor and entering her common room, leaving George to simply stare after her.

Once she left his sight, George finally regained his speech. ''Thank Merlin Fred didn't walk in on that''

**Next chapter; George and Fred hand over a prized possession, and George and Luna spend some time in Hogsmeade.**

**Please, please review...I'm just so greedy for them.**


	8. Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot and Prongs

**Thanks to walters1, Chloe 'Remuslupin' Black, ninjacat5 and speedmonkey for reviewing the last chapter. Thankfully my traffic is back up so I'm not going to be as paraniod about people not reading anymore.**

**I own nothing of Harry Potter but six DVDs, seven books and a couple of games.**

''Hey, have you got it?'' Fred shouted through the gently falling snow towards George who trudged his way through the snow covered ground of the school courtyard.

''Yeah, got it right here'' Fred saw George wave The Marauders Map in his hand through the snowflakes.

''Good'' Fred said as George reached him. ''I was worried the petite blonde attached to your face might have made you forget''

''Shut up'' George said defensively. ''We're not that bad''

''I suppose since you've both fancied each other for Merlin knows how long it's only fair that you make up for lost time'' Fred commented as he began making a snowman.

''That's exactly what we're doing'' George agreed, remembering what Luna had said to him after the Quidditch game. He tucked the map in the inside pocket of his jacket and scooped up a handful of snow and swung it straight at Fred's ear.

''You git'' Fred threw the large gathering of snow he had collected for his snowman at George, who took cover across the courtyard.

''If I hadn't have started it you would have'' George argued as he walked back over to Fred and started building up the snowman.

''Good point'' Fred wasn't going to argue with a very valid statement. ''So when are we meeting Luna?''

''We're meeting her in the Three Broomsticks in an hour'' George replied as he wiped away some of the snowflakes that had landed on his face.

Fred looked as though he was about to say something but stopped when he saw Ron and Hermione heading out of the school. ''Harry must be around here somewhere''

''Yeah. Looks like it's time to let Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot and Prongs give Harry some direction in his life'' George led the way around the courtyard and from the other side of the one-eyed witch statue they could see Harry walking dejectedly by himself; but hopefully they would cheer him up when they handed over the map that had helped them achieve so many of their pranks over the years.

* * *

''You actually gave up the Marauders Map'' Luna looked at Fred and George in disbelief. She could remember the look of delight on Fred and George's eleven year old faces when they had ran into the Great Hall with the map tucked inside of George's cloak.

''Yeah, we've decided that pulling practical jokes with assistance is just less funny for us than doing it by ourselves'' Fred explained.

''Besides, I think Harry may need to watch out for people more than we do'' George added.

''I never thought that you two would give that up'' Luna took the Butterbeer that was handed to her by the bartender and as George and Fred followed with their own drinks, she made her way to a free table by the window of the Leaky Cauldron.

''Well we are just full of surprises Luna'' George smirked as he took the seat beside her.

''I'm sure you are'' Luna took a sip of her Butterbeer and stared out of the window.

''Harry better not get that map taken off him though; we kept that thing safe from Filch for four years'' Fred complained. ''Maybe we should have made him sign an insurance policy''

''Fred if you ever want to run a shop then your going to have to think of better ways of getting money than scrounging money off anyone you meet'' George laughed. ''Just last week you told Lee that you would give him a ticket to a Weird Sisters concert for thirty galleons''

''How do you know that I wouldn't have gotten him a ticket?'' Fred asked.

''Because you don't have any Weird Sisters tickets to give away'' George countered.

''Alright, maybe I would have just given him one of Zonko's trick tickets but still...'' Fred argued defensively.

George decided to ignore Fred and looked to his left to see Luna still staring up at the sky through the window. ''Anything interesting?''

''Not to you maybe'' Luna replied, not shifting her gaze a single inch. ''But I think it's all very lovely''

Fred gave a look that said 'what is she on about?' and George would have wacked him if he had been in reach.

''Can I ask what's so lovely about it?'' George followed Luna's gaze but he could see nothing but a white, snow covered landscape.

''Everything'' Luna stated.

''Oh...alright then mystery solved'' George said sarcastically. Luna finally turned back to the table and began to carry on drinking her Butterbeer.

''Bloody hell'' Fred exclaimed, staring in the direction of the bar. ''Did you see that girl who just came in?''

''No'' George said, trying to look past the pillars to see who the girl in question was. ''Who was it?''

''I don't know'' Fred snapped. ''But I want to. If you two don't mind I'm going to go find out?''

He didn't stop for a response before running across the room in search of the girl and leaving George and Luna sat together. Luna gulped down the rest of her Butterbeer and George watched with a small smile.

''What?'' Luna asked as George's staring made her paranoid.

''Nothing'' George shook his head. ''Do you want to go for a walk?''

''I would love to'' Luna hopped up from her seat and pulled on her scarf and gloves.

* * *

George led Luna through Hogsmeade and as they went beyond the Hog's Head pub and walked across the near deserted part of the village, Luna could no longer hold in her questions. ''George, where are we going?''

''It's just a little further Luna'' George shouted to her over his shoulder. ''I want to show you somewhere''

Luna silently followed George's lead until he came to a stop at the base of a small hill. George pivoted round and held out a hand for Luna to accept, she eyed him with a suspicious look and then put her hand in his. Without a single word, George walked up the gentle slope and Luna trailed directly behind him.

As she reached the top, Luna gasped at the sight before her. The hill looked over the landscape that surrounded Hogsmeade and the image before her could have been a work of art; Hogwarts castle was in the very background surrounded by its lakes and the Forbidden Forest and the many acres of woodland were decorated in shimmering white snow.

''George...'' Luna gasped in amazement and a whirl of breath emerged from her mouth. ''...this is...incredible''

''I thought you might like it'' George smiled as he chose to observe Luna's reactions rather than the landscape. ''It's slightly more impressive than the view from the Three Broomsticks''

''It is'' Luna agreed. After several minutes of staring at the vision before her, Luna looked at George. The falling snow seemed to reflect in his light brown eyes and the red hair that poked out of his hat had collected many tiny flakes of snow that seemed to sparkle as the gentle sunlight hit them. Luna suddenly wasn't sure whether the view of the landscape could compare to that of George Weasley.

''How did you find this place?'' Luna took a step closer to him which did not help with her concentration.

''After me and Fred found out about all those hidden passageways to get here, we brought the map with us just in case there was anywhere else that was hidden'' George explained. ''We didn't know anything was down this end of the village so when we saw a few people over here; we came to see if it was anything interesting''

''How did I not know about this?'' Luna was puzzled.

''Oh it was just after that time when Fred and I gave you the prototypes of Puking Pastels and you were in the hospital wing for a week and a half because everytime you ate you puked it back up again'' Luna thought back to her third year when it had happened. ''And once you had got out of the hospital wing, and me and Fred had got out of our months worth of detentions, you were mad at us so you walked around Hogsmeade with Percy''

''Oh yes I remember now'' Luna giggled. ''You nearly slapped Percy when you saw me with him''

''Luna I did not nearly slap him...I nearly punched his lights out'' George corrected.

Luna laughed. ''Anyways...it's very beautiful here. I'm glad you brought me''

''Yeah well, I've been waiting to show someone else this place and...well it was always going to be you'' George said in all seriousness.

Luna beamed up at him and took one more step so that she was directly in front of him. ''Thank you George''

Luna stood on her tip-toes and kissed George gently on the lips but as she went to pull away again, George recaptured her lips with his and ran his fingers through her long hair and she put her arms over his shoulders.

After many minutes of making out, Luna finally pulled away from a very unhappy looking George. ''You're a tease''

''No'' Luna protested. ''If I was a tease then I would come right up to you and put my hands on your chest, and then I would speak slowly and softly into your ear...''

As she spoke, Luna acted out what she was saying and George's eyes were wide, and a crooked smile was stuck on his face.

''...and then just as I moved forward to kiss you...'' Luna moved so that her lips were just and inch from his, and then she turned and skipped back down the hill; leaving George to watch after her.

''You are evil Luna Lovegood'' George shouted down to her as he slowly made his way back down.

''You were the one who called me a tease'' Luna giggled as she continued to skip away from the hill.

''Yep...'' George muttered. ''...I asked for it''

**Next chapter; It's Christmas time, but will George and Luna get the chance to spend the holidays together?**

**As you can tell, I am mostly sticking to points in the book where certain events happen, but from another perspective. Otherwise I would be writing a story with a 100 chapters in it, so that is why there are certain passages of time between chapters and I hope you don't mind.**

**Please review...I use them as fuel for writing**


	9. Holiday Happiness?

**Thank you for your reviews. This is a much shorter chapter and is quite obviously a filler chapter that will lead me towards the end of the POA timeline, which will happen very soon. I have planned to continue on into the Goblet of Fire where I will include the quidditch world cup, the Yule ball and a bit more drama than I have put in so far. Hopefully you all want me to continue but if you prefer me to end it at the end of the school year then I will do so.**

**I own nothing...and I hate that I have to write that.**

''Let me guess; another love letter from the luscious Luna'' Fred smirked as he walked into his bedroom in the Burrow to see George sitting on his bed with a letter in his hands.

''Shut up'' George complained while reading over the letter.

''We got back from Hogwarts two days ago and you are acting like you haven't see her for two months'' Fred sat down on his own bed and chuckled when George shot him an irritated look.

''We almost always wrote to Luna everyday during the holidays before and I don't remember you ever commenting about it back then''

''Yeah, but know it's easier to bug you because you love her'' Fred said casually. ''What does she say anyway?''

''She tells me to say hi to you and that she misses you, and she just wants to know what I've been up to'' George said as he scanned the letter.

''Why don't you go see her; rather than sit here and mope over her?'' Fred suggested. ''She's only across the hedge anyway''

''I could do that'' George's face seemed to suddenly light up. ''Especially since Mum hasn't given us any chores to do yet''

''Okay if she makes me de-gnome the garden on my own then I swear I will kill you when you get back'' Fred called after him as George rushed out of their room.

* * *

The walk to Luna's house did not take as long as George had expected, and he soon found himself stood in front of the large wooden front door.

After he knocked, the sound of a male and female voice could be heard conversing from somewhere in the house and he jumped back when the door suddenly opened. From around the door, Xenophilius Lovegood peered cautiously.

''Mr Lovegood, it's me George Weasley; Molly and Arthur's son'' George said as Xenophilius stared at him.

''Of course George, I'm sorry, Luna didn't tell me that you were visiting'' Xenophilius opened the door wide and gestured for George to enter.

''Actually Luna doesn't know that I'm here. I had nothing to do at home so I thought I would visit'' George said as he stepped into the main room.

''Is your brother with you?'' Xenophilius enquired. He was use to having both George and Fred coming to visit his daughter.

''Fred's got a couple of jobs to do so it's just me''

''George?'' Luna's voice came from up the stairs. Xenophilius walked up to the bottom of the winding staircase and George followed, once they had reached it, they looked up to see Luna peering down to them from over a banister. ''I thought I heard you''

Luna skipped merrily down the stairs and ran into George's arms. On any other occasion George would happily hold her until the world ended, but since he could see Luna's father looking at them in the corner of his eye, George made sure that his hug was brief and that his hands stayed around her shoulders.

''What are you doing here?'' Luna asked as she pulled back from the hug, completely unaware of the awkward presence of her father.

''I had nothing at home to do, so...''

''Oh that's wonderful. I was just thinking of what I could do today and you've just helped me greatly'' Luna smiled.

''If you two need me I'll be upstairs'' Xenophilius said as he walked up the stairs, keeping a close eye on George.

''Luna, does your Dad not like me?'' George asked as soon as he was sure that the man in question was out of earshot.

''Of course he does. He always has liked you...and Fred. He says that your very open minded; apparently you have the right kind of mind to keep away Wrackspurts''

''Oh right'' George simply nodded, having forgotten what a Wrackspurt is in amongst the other large number of weird and bizarre creatures that Luna and her father believed in. ''He just seemed to be looking at me as if I had done something wrong''

''Well you are the boy who is doing unspeakable things to his daughter; maybe that's the problem'' Luna giggled.

''Luna we've only snogged; I don't think that quite crosses the boundary of unspeakable. And please tell me you haven't actually told your Dad''

''Don't you want people to know that we're together?'' Luna seemed hurt by what George had said.

''No Luna that's not it'' George put his hands on Luna's shoulders and looked deeply into her eyes. ''There's a kind of worldwide code of ethics that all fathers initially hate their daughter's boyfriends, and that's why I'm worried about telling your Dad. And in the case of my parents; Dad will be happy, but Mum will start planning our wedding. I swear I caught her looking in a bridal magazine a couple of days after she found out Percy was going out with Penelope''

''Alright, I understand'' Luna smiled genuinely. ''But I want to tell them before they find out for themselves''

''I promise I will tell Mum before the end of the holidays'' George held up his hand as if taking an oath. ''Consider it another Christmas present''

''Thank you'' Luna smiled sweetly and kissed him on the cheek.

''But you've got to tell your Dad as well''

''Of course'' Luna said innocently.

''And it has to be while I'm not here'' George pointed out cautiously. ''I don't want to face your Dad straight after he finds out''

''I promise'' Luna raised her hand and mocked what George had done. ''So...what do you want to do today?''

''Hhhmmm...'' George pretended to think. ''...oh I know...''

With that, he cupped Luna's cheeks in his hands and pulled her to him for a sweet kiss.

''Erhem'' A not-so-subtle cough from Xenophilius broke the two apart and George nearly jumped back so far from Luna that he went out of a window.

''Luna sweetheart, could you please go and wait in your room? I would like a word with George''

Luna couldn't suppress the laugher that escaped her when she saw George's horrified expression.

''Merry Christmas George'' She smiled before running up the staircase, leaving a very nervous George behind.

**Next chapter; It's back to school, and the next quidditch match draws nearer. But did George survive the dreaded meeting with the girlfriend's father?**

**Please review. I promise that the next few chapters will be much more worth the wait between updates.**


	10. George Weasley vs Everyone

**I am so sorry for the long wait. It seems as though January has well and truly killed my inspiration as I have found it really difficult to put my ideas down into a proper chapter...but it is slowly returning and I am back with a new chapter on both this story and on Future Effects. Updates should be every two or three days from now on until I really get my creativity back.**

**I still don't own Harry Potter...and now on with the story. **

Discussions regarding the Christmas holidays was all that could be heard as George and Fred walked up to the Gryffindor common room with their things.

''Hey guys'' Lee's voice broke through the crowd and he walked along between them. ''How was your Christmas?''

''Eventful'' George murmured as he stared at his feet.

''What's wrong with him?'' Lee asked Fred, who was smirking at whatever George's problem was.

''He was an idiot'' Fred stated and as George glared over at him he choked back a laugh.

''Why?'' Lee pivoted his head from side to side, waiting for one of them to answer.

''He and Luna made an agreement to tell our parents that they are together by the end of the holidays, but instead he gets caught giving her a snog by her Dad'' Fred snickered.

Lee looked open mouthed at George. ''You didn't?''

''I'm never telling you anything again'' George said to Fred, who was still laughing. Lee took that as confirmation to his question and started to laugh himself.

''You got caught by her Dad'' Lee repeated. ''That is beyond bad''

''Actually that isn't the worst part'' George added.

''It's not!'' Lee was clearly shocked; he couldn't imagine anything more awkward than getting caught by the girl's father.

''Actually he's right...it really isn't'' Fred managed to say through his hysterical laughter.

* * *

_(Flashback)_

''Have a seat son'' Xenophilius gestured to one of the comfy chairs in the Lovegood's living room. George nervously sat down and took in deep observations of every part of the room that Xenophilius wasn't sat near. ''George''

George nearly gave himself whiplash as he looked directly at Xenophilius, who had called his name. ''Yes...sir''

''Well I simply would like to know what I just saw?''

George bit his lip to stop the retort of 'I was making out with your daughter what did it look like' coming from his mouth and instead he looked at his hands and desperately tried to conjure up any response that wouldn't get him hit with a cruciatus curse.

''Sir, you have to know that I have had feelings for Luna for a very long time now...and she has for me too'' George began nervously, seeing Xenophilius staring at him intently from his place in the chair opposite his. ''We are together and...um...''

''Don't sound so worried George. As a father I am always going to be weary of the young man who becomes a serious part of my daughters life, and if I'm honest, I feel much happier it being you than someone else''

''Really?'' George exclaimed in surprise.

''Yes George. You didn't really think that I was going to be angry with you, did you?''

''Not angry...I just thought you'd be chasing me around your garden with a jinxed brick flying at my head'' George answered honestly.

Xenophilius chuckled. ''I will only do that if you give me a reason to George''

''So is everything alright?'' George asked in all seriousness.

''Of course it is'' Xenophilius left the room with a smile and George breathed a sigh of relief; the storm had only passed over and no damage had been caused.

After spending several hours with Luna (the first half hour being spent with her still laughing at George's expression on being caught), George finally made his way back to the Burrow, only to be greeted by Molly at the door.

''Hey Mum''

''Kitchen'' She ordered.

George didn't dare ask and quietly made his way to the kitchen with his mother straight behind him.

''Sit'' She said when George looked at her confused.

''What's up Mum?'' George asked cautiously.

''Xenophilius Lovegood came over this afternoon...''

''Oh bloody hell'' George buried his face in his hands.

''I want to know why I was not aware that my son was in a relationship with his best friend''

''We haven't been together long...''

''I don't care about how long you have been together George Weasley; as your mother I have the right to know the minute you are with a girl''

George opened his mouth to make a comment about how stupid that was, but decided against it as his mother looked at him sternly.

''George, you need to know how to look after a girl...''

''Oh no no no no...'' George jumped up from his seat and put his fingers in his ears...he knew which conversation was coming and he refused to hear it.

Molly forcefully pushed down on George's shoulders and he dropped back into his seat, preparing for the worst conversation of his life.

_(End of Flashback)_

_

* * *

_

''You had _the _'talk' with your mum'' Lee cackled with laughter.

''Yeah he did'' Fred was taking in big gulps of air in-between laughs so that he could breathe.

''Yeah you can laugh now...'' George turned to his twin. ''...but you wont be when I tell Mum all about those conversations I've overheard between you and Angelina''

The laughter quickly left Fred and he looked horrified. ''You wouldn't'' He challenged.

George said nothing and gave a triumphant smile before sauntering off down the corridor. Fred glared after him and Lee simply laughed for the next few minutes.

* * *

''So George, it seems that you are now fraternising with the enemy'' Fred snickered.

''No he isn't; I'm not on the Quidditch team'' Luna smiled as she stood with George's arm across her shoulder. The trio were stood by the school's Quidditch notice board which announced that the final Quidditch match of the season (and Gryffindor's last chance of winning the House Cup) would be against Ravenclaw.

''I bet Wood wont see it that way'' Fred commented. ''He'll be convinced that you're telling the Ravenclaw team all of our secrets and he'll ban George from seeing you''

Luna giggled and shook her head at Fred's exaggeration. George however, looked pissed off. ''If Wood told me I couldn't see Luna I'd quit the team''

''Really? You would do that'' Luna looked up at George, surprise written across her face. ''but you love Quidditch''

''Yeah well...'' George smiled down at her. Luna stood on her tip-toes and kissed George softly on the lips.

''Erhem'' Fred interrupted. ''Remember me; the Invisible Man''

''How could we forget; you're always getting in the bloody way'' George complained.

''Charmin', I'll leave you two to it then'' Fred commented and walked off, but both George and Luna happened to notice Angelina walking nearby towards the adjacent corridor.

''He's such a bloody hypocrite'' George watched his brother sprint after Angelina. ''He complains about us two, yet we all know that he and Angelina aren't doing any studying when they are both in the back corner of the library''

Luna laughed and snuggled closer into George's side. ''He only teases you because it bothers you so much''

''You are meant to be on my side'' George commented.

''I am'' Luna beamed and kissed his cheek. ''But I also want you to stop complaining''

''George'' George turned at the sound of Wood's voice.

''Hey Wood'' George greeted him as he approached.

''You've seen the notice I assume'' George nodded. ''Good, we'll start training this Wednesday after dinner''

''I'll see you then'' George said.

''See you later George. Bye Luna''

''Bye Oliver'' Luna smiled. Once Wood had disappeared, George began walking them down the corridor towards the classroom for their Transfiguration lesson.

''At least he didn't seemed bothered with me 'fraternising with the enemy''' George quoted Fred.

''Because Wood knows that I'm not the type of person who will go passing around information in order to win'' Luna shot an innocent look up at George.

George grinned down at her and squeezed the shoulder his hand rested on. ''The forever reliable Luna Lovegood''

''That's me'' Luna announced brightly.

**Next chapter; The Quidditch final arrives and the end of the school year draws nearer.**

**There will be two more chapters on the POA and then I will be moving on to GOF...how much further I go after that I am not sure but I plan to spend around ten chapters on each book's timeline and thank you for letting me know that you want more of this story.**

**Please review...I promise I will not leave it as long to update again without a seriously good reason. **


	11. Victory

**Thank you for your reviews of the last chapter. The updates will get better I promise.**

**I own nothing about Harry Potter but I sure would like to.**

''So, what are our chances?'' Harry asked wearily over the table to Fred and George.

''Well the Ravenclaws aren't going to be easy-'' Fred began.

''But if we play our best then we can probably beat them'' George finished.

''Probably'' Harry repeated, not sounding too happy about those odds.

''It's not one we can judge either way'' Fred commented. ''Ravenclaw's team luck varies from game to game. They could be a big challenge, or a walk in the park...we will only know once we play''

''Just keep your mind on the game'' George said as he threw a slice of toast down on to a plate. His appetite had deteriorated more and more as the game drew nearer.

''What else would I keep my mind on?'' Harry enquired, looking over at George puzzled. Ron snorted from beside Harry and Hermione nudged him in a way that told him to shut up. ''What?''

''We're just thinking about Ravenclaw's newest player...'' Fred smirked.

''Ron happened to mention that you have an interest in a Miss Cho Chang'' George quipped.

Harry shot Ron a 'what the hell did you tell them that for?' look and Ron just shrugged his shoulders and carried on eating. Harry looked at the twins, who were laughing, and got defensive. ''I'm not interested in Cho Chang''

''Alright mate we believe you-''

''But if you attention is drawn away from the game we'll send a bludger in your direction'' George laughed and Harry's defensiveness, but stopped as he saw a glimmer of blonde hair in his peripheral vision.

''Hey Luna'' Fred greeted her through a bite of toast.

''Hello Fred'' Luna smiled cheerily and walked up beside where George was sat. ''How are you boys feeling?''

''We'd feel a lot better if you tell us that you spiked your team's drinks'' George quirked.

''Sorry but I don't think you boys will need any help winning'' Luna smiled.

''Don't let a Ravenclaw hear you say that...you'll be named a traitor'' Fred said.

''You're more of a Gryffindor than a Ravenclaw anyway'' Ron murmured through his cereal.

''Yeah, so who are you supporting today Luna?'' Fred leaned on to the table and looked intently at her, as if mocking a Ministry interrogator.

''Officially...Ravenclaw, Otherwise I may not be allowed into the common room'' Luna laughed.

''Hey I'm sure George wont mind bunking with you if you get kicked out'' Fred smirked.

George spat out his mouthful of water and Luna blushed a deep red as Fred found humour in their embarrassment.

''And unofficially who are you supporting?'' Harry asked Luna, hoping to avoid another Weasley twin war of words.

''Oh well...'' Luna un-zipped her sky blue jacket and revealed a scarlet Gryffindor jumper that looked slightly too large for her. Luna caught George's gaze and smiled. ''I told you I would wear it again''

Luna zipped back up her coat and Fred looked puzzled at George. ''When did you give her your jumper?''

''I was wearing it over a t-shirt during one of the Hogsmeade visits and she said she was cold so I gave her it...when I asked for it back she said she wanted to keep it''

''Oh'' Fred nodded his head with a smirk.

''Okay, maybe we should get going...Wood will be having a heart attack if we don't show up soon'' George stood and stepped over the table's bench.

''Good luck'' Luna whispered with a beaming smile.

''Thank you'' George leaned in and captured her lips with his.

''Enough of that'' Fred put a hand on George's shoulder and pulled him away. ''Sorry George, but we need to get to the pitch sometime today''

George gave Luna a final kiss on the cheek and then walked off with Fred and Harry.

* * *

''GO GO GRYFFINDOR! GO GO GRYFFINDOR! GO GO GRYFFINDOR!''

The chants of overjoyed scarlet and gold wearing students could be heard from every inch of Hogwarts castle. Gryffindor had officially won the house cup. Luna was walking with Ginny, Hermione and Ron across the field of grass between the Quidditch pitch and the castle. Luna couldn't help but chuckle along with Ron's comments on how the Slytherins looked more miserable than the Ravenclaws did. They all looked more ugly and miserable than usual.

''Oi'' A smile crossed Luna's face that reached her eyes and she turned to the source of the voice. ''Am I going to get any congratulations from the gracious loser?''

Luna ran up to George, who was still clad in his Quidditch robes, and jumped up at him and wrapped her arms and legs around him. ''Congratulations''

''Thank you'' George kissed her lips briefly and wrapped his arms around her back to hold her to him; luckily, she weighed very little.

''Great match George'' Ron said as he patted his older brother's shoulder. ''Where's Fred and Harry?''

''Fred was looking for some form of reward from Angelina...and I think Wood was planning on marrying Harry...'' George joked as Luna jumped down from him and stood at his side. ''I think I saw Dumbledore and McGonagall congratulating him a minute ago''

From over George's shoulder Ron could see a couple more approaching figures in scarlet robes and he looked to Hermione. ''Lets go''

Ginny followed Ron and Hermione and left George and Luna standing motionless within the bustling crowd.

''So what are you going to do now?'' Luna asked as George put an arm around her shoulder and pulled her closer to his side.

''Well I'll have to head back and get changed...and then there's going to be a party in Gryffindor common room...'' George looked apologetically at Luna. ''but I'm afraid it's Gryffindors only''

''That's alright, I don't mind'' Luna said honestly.

''You are wonderful'' George cupped her face in his hands and he gave her another kiss.

''I'll just have to celebrate with you when we are on our own'' Luna said with a cheeky smile.

''You are even more wonderful'' George kissed her again.

''Thank you...now go'' Luna gently pushed George in the direction of the changing rooms.

George beamed at her and then turned in the direction he was walking. As Luna watched him constantly turn back to smile at her, she had never been so glad to be a part of the losing team.

* * *

''Sirius Black was in your common room'' Luna repeated in horror. The news of what had happened after the party in Gryffindor common room had spread like wildfire around the school, and was the only topic of conversation all around the courtyard where Luna, George and Fred were sat on the ground.

''Not just in the common room...he was stood over Ron with a knife'' Fred added. George slapped him on the arm when he saw Luna gasp and put her hand to her mouth. ''Oh don't worry Luna he's alright''

''Thanks Fred'' George complained.

''I just can't believe he got inside the castle at all'' Luna muttered. George put a comforting arm around her and she dropped her head on to his shoulder. ''I hope they find him''

''Not to sound rude Luna...'' Fred began. George shot him a dark look that told Fred that he better watch what he says. ''...but you once defended Sirius Black...you said your dad didn't believe he was guilty''

''I know I did...but he may have done it...and he was so close to...'' Luna shuddered at the thought of what may have happened.

''I don't think Black's going to get the chance to get anywhere near anyone again...it looks like we're going to be camping out in the Great Hall for a while'' Fred sighed; yearly camping trips to muddy bogs and forests with his family had permanently given Fred a hatred of sleeping anywhere other than a proper bed.

''It's such a shame'' Luna sighed. ''Everyone was so happy and cheerful yesterday''

''Obviously you didn't spend much time with your fellow Ravenclaws'' George smiled. ''Or any Slytherins''

''I think the Slytherins would have preferred the house cup being melted down and turned into scrap metal rather than letting Gryffindor getting it'' Fred added.

''Probably'' Luna laughed into George's shoulder.

''We should get going to lessons'' George started to get up and Fred and Luna followed. ''Apparently we should carry on as if nothing happened''

George and Luna linked hands and Fred walked alongside them into the castle.

''Yeah, I mean there's only a murdering lunatic running around the school...'' Fred said sarcastically. ''...what could happen?''

**Next chapter; George and Luna's fifth year at Hogwarts ends.**

**I'm sorry the next chapter note is pretty lame but it will be a filler chapter for me to lead into the goblet of fire so I don't intend on making you wait for to long.**

**Please review as I need all the motivation to write that I can get.**


	12. Goodbye Fifth Year

**Thanks for the reviews on the last chapter. This is the last part based on the POA timeline and next chapter I will be moving on to the beginning of GOF so this is quite obviously a filler chapter and isn't too great but please stay with me.**

**I own nothing of Harry Potter...and if I did I would be doing a couple of re-writes on certain events in the Deathly Hallows.**

''George, Fred, how's Ron?'' Luna asked as she caught up with them down the main corridor that led off from the grand staircase.

''He's doing better'' Fred commented.

''Yeah, he's going to be on crutches for a week or so but apart from that he'll be fine'' George added. He and Fred had just come from the hospital wing where they were visiting their younger brother, who was being kept there for another few days due to the injury he had received on his leg from Sirius Black's animagus form.

''What about you two? It's not everyday you find out your family's pet rat is a murderer'' Luna enquired in a hushed whisper. After Dumbledore had informed Molly and Arthur of what had happened between Harry, Ron, Hermione, Sirius, Lupin and Peter Pettigrew (who they had known better as Scabbers), they had informed their children of what had happened to Ron (and why he was in the hospital wing), of the truth about their pet rat and of the innocence of Sirius Black. Molly had thought of Luna as part of the family for a long time, and so she allowed George and Fred to tell Luna of things as well; but only Luna.

''I still can't believe it'' Fred exclaimed. ''It makes me wish that Hermione's cat had eaten him''

''Yeah, and I feel like a right git after saying all those things about Sirius Black; it looks like your dad was right about him Luna'' George said.

''Yeah, you just can't tell him he's right'' Fred pointed out; reminding her that she couldn't tell anyone about Sirius Black's newfound freedom.

''I know'' Luna said sadly. ''I wish everyone could know the truth about Sirius; he deserves his freedom''

''Maybe he'll get it one day'' George reassured her. ''But without anything against Pettigrew, he's safer keeping a low profile''

''I suppose your right''

* * *

''I think Wood's about to die of happiness'' Fred commented as he looked along the platform to see Oliver proudly accepting praise and congratulations on helping Gryffindor win the house cup.

''I swear he nearly choked on his own smugness when Dumbledore announced it in the Great Hall'' George recalled. ''The look on his face almost made me want to hit him round the head with the bloody cup''

''Honestly...anyone would think he helped Slytherin win'' Luna chuckled. ''the way you two complain about him''

''We are perfectly happy for him to accept a lot of the praise, I mean he almost killed us with the amount of Quidditch practice he gave us this year-'' Fred began.

''But it would have been nice of him to have acted a little less cocky about it''

''Are you sure that you're not just jealous that he got more praise than you did?'' Luna looked at them knowingly.

''What kind of people do you think we are?'' Fred asked in mock offence.

''You make us sound like a pair of attention seekers'' George added with a playful smirk.

''Oh I'm sorry, I forgot how humble and quiet you two like to be'' Luna retorted.

The three stopped their conversation as the Hogwarts express howled on to the platform and sent a gust of wind over the assembled students as it came to a stop.

''Blimey, it seems like ages since I've seen that train'' George said as he ran his hands through his windswept longish hair and brushed it out of his eyes.

''We'll be back on it before we know it'' Fred sighed.

''At least there wont be any exams sixth year'' Luna reminded him.

Fred's face suddenly lit up. ''I didn't think about that''

''Yeah but we've got to get decent enough OWL results or they wont let us back here'' George laughed and missed the look of horror that crossed Luna's face. ''I think Mum's probably already preparing herself for the worst''

''Well the worst thing that can happen is we don't get let back in here and we start up our business early'' Fred said as the trio picked up their bags and he led their way onto the train.

''Except we have no money for a business yet, and Mum might just kill us if our results are so bad that we're not allowed back'' George laughed as he followed Fred into a compartment.

The three put their bags up on to the overhead shelves and took seats with Fred sat opposite Luna and George, it was only then that George notice Luna's solemn look. ''Hey Luna, what's the matter?''

''I just never thought about what would happen if you two didn't come back next year'' Luna replied quietly.

''Luna we're only kidding'' George took hold of her hand and squeezed it tightly. ''We're not going anywhere''

''Besides; we actually didn't think we did too badly'' Fred reassured her with an honest smile.

''You didn't really think you were going to get rid of us that easily?'' George looked at her with big puppy dog eyes and Luna let out a small chuckle.

''No...I just hate the idea of being at school without having you two with me'' She said bashfully.

''Well then...'' Fred jumped up and took the seat on the other side of Luna to George. ''...it's a good job that we'll be back on this train in September''

George kissed her cheek and brushed the bangs of hair away from her face. ''Exactly. It's the holidays and we're still going to be seeing you everyday''

''You are?'' Luna looked curiously between either twin.

''Yeah...what's the point in living across the hedge from your best friends if you're not going to see them everyday''

''We've been best friends since first year, but we have never seen each other every single day of the holidays'' Luna reminded George.

''So...that was then, this is now''

''Yep, sorry Lovegood...but you're going to have to prepare for a Weasley filled summer''

As Fred returned to his seat and George began fumbling around for loose change to spend on sweets and chocolate, Luna sat in great anticipation for what was sure to be the best summer ever.

**Next chapter; It's summertime with Luna and the Weasley's.**

**Things will be much more interesting next chapter I promise. Hopefully I will update very soon.**


	13. Summer With The Weasleys

**I'm really sorry about the delay in updates but my creativity has been drained recently again. I wasn't very happy with the previous chapter and felt lucky to recieve the two reviews that were given to me, hopefully this chapter will be much better.**

**I own nothing about Harry Potter.**

The sun shone furiously in the early August weather as Luna walked across the plains of grass and hedgerows towards the Burrow.

It was the third week of summer and so far George and Fred had kept their promise of a 'Weasley filled summer'. If she wasn't making this journey each day, then the twins were the ones walking to her house (''I can't bloody wait until next year; apparating whenever we want...'' George had mused one day whilst walking through her front door).

Her pace increased and she was almost skipping as she crossed the last couple of dried up marches and arrived outside of the Weasley family home.

''Hey Luna'' Fred, who must have seen her coming, was standing in doorway to the house and held a hand over his eyes; shielding them from the sun. ''I was just getting a drink and I thought I saw a familiar face heading this way''

''Hello Fred'' Luna greeted him cheerfully and skipped across the gap that took her to the front door.

''We're in the garden at the moment'' Fred said back to her as she followed him through the house.

''We?'' Luna said curiously.

''It's just me, George, Ginny and Ron; Mum's shopping, Dad's at work and Percy's doing work in his room'' He replied. ''We're playing Quidditch; you can come out and watch your boyfriend lose''

''What's the score?'' Luna asked as they reached the back door which led to the garden.

''Oh we haven't started yet'' Fred stated and they stepped outside where George, Ron and Ginny where practicing on their brooms. ''But George is with Ron and I'm with Ginny; so he's bound to lose''

''Bugger off'' George's shout down at his brother was followed by a hurtling quaffle. ''At least I don't need my little sister's help to win at something''

Fred only responded by throwing the quaffle back at George, who was now back on the ground.

''Oi, if you two keep arguing then I'll team up with Ron'' Ginny called to them.

''I am not that bad'' Ron yelled defensively.

George ignored him and walked over to Luna to pull her into a big hug. ''I was beginning to think that you weren't going to show up today''

''Sorry but my dad wanted to talk to me about something''

''Oh yeah, what was that?''

''Actually you'll have to wait until your mum gets home before I can say'' Luna replied with a cheeky smile.

''Why do we have to wait for Mum to get home?'' Fred interrupted.

''I don't know?'' George shook his head. ''But she better be back soon''

* * *

After several failed saves on Ron's behalf, and several rants from George afterwards, Fred and Ginny clearly claimed victory, but that didn't stop George from bitching as they got their feet back on the ground. ''Merlin's arse Ron, once of those shots was actually going to miss until you actually knocked it through the post''

''Sorry'' Ron mumbled as he traipsed back inside the Burrow.

George shook his head in frustration as he walked over to Luna, who had been watching them from a garden bench.

''Boys'' Molly's voice bellowed from inside of the house. ''Ginny''

''Great Mum's back'' George said as he hurried himself and Luna into the house. ''Now I get to find out what you were talking about''

''Oh hello Luna'' Molly smiled as the two met her in the kitchen where she was putting the shopping away into the cupboards.

''Hello Mrs Weasley'' Luna smiled.

''Nice to see you too Mum'' George said in mock offence.

''Sorry Fred'' Molly apologised with her face turned away from her son and missed George's eyes roll as she called him the wrong name.

''What are you sorry about?'' Fred asked as he entered the kitchen and grabbed a glass of water.

''I doesn't matter'' George said quickly. ''because Luna has something to talk to you about Mum''

''Oh really, what is it Luna?'' Molly asked as George smirked down at Luna.

''Well Mrs Weasley, Dad and I were talking this morning, and he was telling me that in a few weeks time he will be needing to go away to do some work for The Quibbler, and I was wondering if I could stay with you?'' Luna explained.

''Luna you don't even need to ask'' Molly rushed over to her excitedly. ''We'd love to have you here...''

''George definitely would love to have you here'' Fred muttered under his breath, which everyone heard.

''...when will Xenophilius be going away?'' Molly asked, ignoring Fred's comment, Luna's blushing and the 'I'm going to kill you Fred' look on George's face.

''Ummm...two weeks on Monday'' Luna recalled.

''Wonderful'' Molly beamed. ''It will be a very full house in a few weeks time''

* * *

In fact, it was an even fuller house than Molly had expected. A couple of days after Luna temporarily moved into Ginny's room, Bill had come for a visit, Hermione was coming over every few days to see Ron and his family, Percy had spent less time in his room (''He seems to have finally grasped the concept of a summer holiday'' Ron had muttered to Fred and George) and Charlie had arrived from Romania on the Friday.

On the Saturday afternoon, the heat was so bad that no one in the house could bear to go outside, only Arthur was out of the house for work. Everyone other than Molly (who was in the kitchen making lemonade) was in the living room reeling around conversations ranging from Ron's new pet owl, to Charlie's close encounter with a Hungarian Horntail dragon.

''Alright everyone, here's some drinks'' Molly placed a tray with a jug full of lemonade, some cups and some ice on to the centre coffee table which was quickly emptied by everyone in the room.

''Thank Merlin Mum'' George gasped after guzzling down half a cupful of drink in one go. ''I've never been so hot in my entire life''

''I didn't think England ever got this hot'' Charlie commented. All of his memories of his home were filled with snow, rain and winds that could knock people off their broomsticks.

''It goes from one extreme to the other'' George complained as he ran his hands through his longish red hair which had been stuck to his forehead by sweat.

''Honestly, you need a haircut George Weasley'' Molly complained as she noticed the length of George's hair.

''Me. What about Fred; his hair's the same as mine, and Ron; his is no better''

''Well you all need haircuts''

George sighed and dropped his hands to his sides. Luna chuckled from her seat on the sofa next to him. ''I like your hair like that. Not many people could pull it off''

''I'm keeping it'' George said instantly in a way that told Molly he would not compromise.

''For goodness sake'' Molly muttered. ''Impressing your girlfriend isn't an excuse you two can use though'' Molly pointed at Fred and Ron.

''Mum no, I can't cut my hair if George doesn't'' Fred protested. ''If we have different hairstyles then we wont be Gred and Forge anymore''

Molly rolled her eyes and shook her head at Fred's argument before walking off.

''I think I just won an argument against Mum'' Fred said quietly in genuine shock.

**Next chapter; OWL results arrive at the Burrow, and George and Luna spend some time alone.**

**Please review, I really need your feedback to help motivate me to write and I really want to speed back up with the updates.**


	14. Results

**Thanks for your reviews on the last chapter, it was probably my favourite so far in this story so I loved the great feedback.**

George was woken up for the third time on the morning of the fifteenth of August by a suddenly knocking on his door. With his face buried in his pillow, he could hear Fred mumble 'bugger off' to himself and George used all of his energy to lift his head up to look at the wall clock. It was half past seven and George dropped his head straight back on to his pillow.

''Fred and George Weasley, if you two aren't downstairs in five minutes you'll be spending the next two weeks of the holidays de-gnoming the garden'' Molly yelled from the other side of the door.

''Hasn't that woman ever heard of a holiday?'' Fred said sleepily as he propped himself up on his elbows and looked across the room at George.

''Obviously not'' George replied as he put his legs over the side of the bed and stood up.

''It's not as if anything important is happening today'' Fred imitated the same movements as George, but he went at a much slower pace.

George nodded and yawned as he used his fingers to tidy his tousled red hair, however, he suddenly stopped as he thought about what Fred had said. ''Wait a minute...what's the date today?''

''How the bloody hell should I know?'' Fred yawned as he finally stood up and caught his balance by holding on to the bedside table.

''Okay, Mum said it was Aunt Muriel's birthday three days ago and that was on the twelfth...oh flippin' heck, it's the fifteenth Fred''

''Is that meant to mean something?''

''OWL results'' George's statement caused Fred's eyes to widen in horror.

''Well we wont have to worry about getting woken up by Mum anymore...she'll probably be kicking us out once those letters arrive''

''Maybe Xenophilius will put us up'' George said with a smirk.

''Oh yeah...you'll be able to live in the same house as Luna because life is just that kind'' Fred laughed.

''Well better that than living in the Leaky Cauldron'' George walked out of their room and headed down the staircase with Fred following slowly behind.

''Anywhere would be better than the Leaky Cauldron''

Molly met the twins at the bottom of the stairs and the mix of surprise and anger on her face as she saw them told Fred and George that they had narrowly avoided having their mum coming up to seriously yell at them.

''Good morning boys'' Arthur greeted them cheerily. Both George and Fred knew they were awake early if they were up before their dad had left for work.

''Morning Dad'' George sat down on one of the seats around the kitchen table while Fred slumped down on the seat across from him and placed his forehead on the table.

''I can see why you two are usually up so late in the mornings'' Arthur commented as Molly made an irritable Fred sit up.

''How come we have to get up so early but Luna doesn't?'' Fred complained as he noticed her absence.

''Luna is our guest, besides, she gets up at a reasonable hour on her own unlike you two'' Molly placed down some orange juice on to the table along with some slices of toast. ''Anyways, I would think that you would want to be up early''

''What would possibly make you think that?'' Fred asked through his bit of toast.

''Because if your results arrived before you were awake then I wouldn't be able to wait for you and I would open them myself''

George and Fred shared horrified looks as they thought about what could have occurred if their mother had read their results before they did.

''That's a pretty good reason to wake us up'' George agreed. Molly smiled at them and then continued to add food to the table.

Five minutes later, Luna skipped down the stairs, already dressed in her clothes for the day and wearing a bright smile on her face. She couldn't stop herself from chuckling at the state of George and Fred.

''Couldn't you even get dressed?'' Luna asked as she sat on the chair next to George. He was wearing a plain white t-shirt with black pyjama bottoms and Fred was wearing his Gryffindor Quidditch jumper and dark blue bottoms.

''No'' George answered as he watched her act as though she had been up for hours. ''Luna, how long have you been awake?''

''Oh only a couple of minutes'' She replied as she covered her toast with jam and missed George and Fred share amazed looks.

''How is that possible?''

''Leave her alone'' Molly interrupted. ''and once you've eaten, go and get dressed''

After half an hour, George and Fred finally seemed to be awake and were now waiting in the kitchen. Arthur had gone to work and Charlie and Percy were now downstairs with Molly and the trio awaiting their results.

''It'll be fine'' Charlie reassured Luna, who was biting on to her fingernails nervously. ''I was so worried that I had done badly, but actually I did pretty well''

''Pretty well'' Fred repeated. ''Charlie you got five Outstandings and the rest were all Exceeds expectations, how is that only 'pretty well' ''

''Actually I failed Divination'' Charlie corrected his younger brother.

''Oh who cares about Divination'' This comment earned Fred a disapproving look from his mother.

''I am sure you'll do wonderfully'' Molly reassured Luna.

''Well we're about to find out'' Percy said from his place by the window. George walked over and stood by Percy, he could see Errol flying towards them with something being held in his beak.

''Back up Perce'' George stepped away from the window and Percy followed just in time for Errol to fly straight past the spot they had been stood in and land on the table. The owl dropped three envelopes from his beak before flying off again and almost hitting the window frame as he flew back outside.

Luna, Fred and George picked up their respective envelopes, quickly pulled at the wax seal and focused intently on what had been written on the parchment. Much to Molly's annoyance, neither Fred nor George reacted to what they had seen, but a huge smile had emerged across Luna's face.

''How'd you do Luna?'' George walked over to her and ignored his stressed mother.

''I got three Outstandings in Herbology, Care of Magical Creatures and Transfiguration, an Acceptable for Divination and Exceeds Expectations for everything else''

''That's my girl'' George cheered and pulled Luna into a big hug.

''How about you?'' Luna asked him as they pulled apart.

''Well lets just say; I will be returning to Hogwarts this year'' George grinned.

Molly breathed a sigh of relief but then turned to Fred. ''What about you?''

''I'll be going back too''

''Oh thank goodness''

''What exactly did you get?'' Luna asked George quietly enough for Molly to not here.

''I've got three OWLs overall'' George whispered back. ''But it's enough to get me back so who cares?''

''Your Mum will when she finds out'' Luna giggled.

''So Fred, how exactly did you do?'' Molly gave him a look that told him if he dared lie there would be hell to pay for.

''I got three OWLs overall'' Fred said reluctantly and watched as his mother's face got slightly red.

Luna looked at George, who now looked worried. Unsurprisingly, Molly then turned to George. ''And you?''

George opened his mouth to answer, but stopped when a thought occurred to him. ''Oh you know what Mum I've just remembered...'' As he spoke he shoved the parchment with his results on into his trouser pocket, ushered Luna towards the front door and walked hurriedly behind her. ''...that Luna has to write to her Dad to tell him how she's done and her owl is waiting in the woods and she can't go in their alone so I've got to go with her...see you later'' With that, he slammed the door behind him and rushed Luna to increase the gap between them and his mother. He had spoken so fast that she hadn't had the chance to stop him and he was sure to be in trouble once he finally got back, but since he had now bought some alone time with Luna, he wasn't bothered.

* * *

''I hope he'll proud of me'' Luna said softly as she watched the owl fly away with her letter to Xenophilius.

''Of course he will be'' George reassured her. ''Luna you did great''

''Thank you'' Luna smiled as she walked with him beside her and with his arm across her shoulders. A gentle breeze gushed through the woods as Luna and George traipsed around, not entirely bothered about returning to the Burrow for the time being.

''So, those OWLs that you failed; did you fail them because you didn't know it, or because you couldn't be bothered'' Luna queried.

''What do you think?'' George quipped with a smirk.

''The second option''

George shrugged. ''Luna, do you honestly see either me or Fred sitting doing paperwork in the Ministry of Magic, or anywhere else for that matter?''

''I suppose not''

''Exactly'' George pulled her closer to his side as they wandered by a small marsh in amongst the trees. ''I definitely don't plan on living with my mother until I'm forty, but I'm going to wait and make sure that the job I take is one I really want to do''

''That's awfully sensible of you George''

''Wow, I don't think I've ever heard 'sensible' and 'George' said together in a sentence before'' George joked.

''You must finally be growing up'' Luna laughed.

''You wish'' George smirked. ''I am not a grown up...'' George took his arm away from her and walked behind her. Without warning he grabbed her from behind by the waist and twirled her around until they were close to large tree, he then turned her around so that she was facing him and then pinned her between himself and the tree truck, putting his hands up on either side of his head. ''...would a grown up do this?''

''I'm not sure'' Luna gulped as she felt George's warm breath on her face. ''But I don't mind you doing it''

''And people think you're so innocent'' George shook his head. ''If only they knew the truth''

Luna suddenly grabbed on to the collar of George's dark blue sweater and pulled his face to hers and brought their lips together. After several minutes Luna pushed George away in order to regain a proper amount of breath.

''Yeah...we definitely need to get away from that house much more often'' George smiled.

**Next chapter; It's the Quidditch World Cup, but what happens when the Death Eaters arrive?**

**Please review :^)**


	15. Death Eaters

''I wish Dad could have come, he would have loved to do a story on the Quidditch world cup final'' Luna sighed as she walked alongside Fred and George through the woods that were nearby to their homes.

''Luna I'm sure he will be happy enough knowing that you're having a good time with us'' George put a reassuring arm around her but spoke with that cheeky Weasley tone-of-voice.

''Yeah, he'll be so happy to have a Quidditch mad teenager on his hands'' Fred added.

''Because that's what will happen; it happened to Dad, to Bill, to Charlie, it even happened to Percy, and it happen to us two, Ron and Ginny''

''What exactly will happen?'' Luna asked in her confusion.

''The effect of your first ever Quidditch match; it will make you Quidditch mad'' Fred replied.

''I've been to several matches''

''Yeah'' George agreed. ''But they've all been at Hogwarts. At Hogwarts, we have to support our houses-''

''There isn't a choice'' Fred interjected.

''But outside of Hogwarts, you support the team that you think is the very best''

''Which makes the love and support that much stronger in games outside of school''

''And because of that, the effect of Quidditch is that much greater outside of school''

''I see'' Luna said, deciding that to simply pretend to understand what they were saying would be easier than having to listen to them explain it all over again.

''How far Dad?'' Ron shouted from behind them. Even after half an hour of walking, Ron still sounded as though he could drop to the ground with sleep at any moment.

''A little while yet I'm afraid Ron until we reach the portkey'' Arthur called back from his point at the front of the group. Ron gave a frustrated sigh and reluctantly continued walking. ''So, since we have a while to go yet; does anyone have anything interesting to talk about?''

''No'' George and Fred said at the same time.

''How about you Harry?''

''Not really...unless you want to hear about how much I hate the Dursleys again'' Harry replied.

''No thanks Harry'' George started.

''Yeah I'd rather not mate'' Fred added.

''Alright...girls, anything from you?'' Arthur called back.

''Not really'' Luna called back.

''Me neither'' Hermione said.

''Wonderful'' Arthur muttered to himself as he led the silent group.

''I could always tell you some more stories from Romania'' Charlie suggested. Both he and Bill were walking alongside their father and watched as relief reigned over him.

''Thank goodness you two are here'' Arthur said gratefully, he could never get enough of hearing about muggle conventions and customs from the places his two oldest sons had been to.

* * *

''Now that is what I call a profit'' Fred said cheerily. He was sat on the floor of the tent with George and Luna and both he and George seemed to be more hyped up about their successful betting scheme than the actual Quidditch final.

''Cheer about it now...but once you're home and your mother's around; it never happened'' Arthur reminded the twins for the fifth time that they had to make sure that their mother remained unaware of them making money through bets.

''What do you think she'll be more angry at; us making money through our special WWW products, or us making money through bets?'' George asked Fred and Luna quietly.

Fred shrugged and began to recount the money that was on the floor in front of them. Luna sat and pondered for a moment. ''I think she will be very mad at both of those things happening''

''I knew you were going to say that'' George shook his head but suddenly jumped along with everyone else in the tent and the sound of a china mug smacking into something. Standing, George saw Ginny sat at the small table with the contents of her fallen mug spilt everywhere; she was fast asleep with her head on the table.

''Alright everyone, time to go to bed'' Arthur announced as he gently woke Ginny, who then tiredly made her way over to her bunk.

''Sweet dreams'' George kissed Luna briefly before he made his way across the tent to the boys bunks and she went over to the girls'.

* * *

''UP!'' George's eyelids felt like lead weights as his father's shouts woke him. Confused to whether the voice was imaginary or not, George propped himself up in his bunk and looked over to his brothers who were either still asleep or half awake as he was. Before he could shake it off as his imagination, Arthur appeared. ''Boys! Get up now! Quickly''

As soon as he was sure that they were all awake, he ran off and his calls to wake up the girls could be heard through the tent's fabric walls. Suddenly he was back with the boys. ''Right everyone. Up. Now'' Arthur noticed Percy reach for his clothes. ''No Percy...there's not time to get dressed. Stay in your pyjamas and just grab a coat and some shoes''

The increasing sound of fear and panic in Arthur's voice made everyone wake up that much faster and as George rushed out towards the tent doorway he ran into a worried Luna who immediately clamped her arms around him.

''It's okay Luna, I'm sure everything's alright'' He tried to comfort her and kissed her forehead softly.

Happy that everyone was up and ready, Arthur rushed forward and ushered everyone out of the tent.

The sight that greeted everyone outside was nothing like it had been only a few hours earlier and the grip Luna had on George's hand was vice-like; the clear blue sky was now a deep grey and was masked by smoke, the cheers and laughter of the people had transformed into screams and wails of terror and the bright and vivid colours of the Quidditch teams were lost in amongst the flashes of light that were being thrown across the campsite.

Arthur called for everyone to go into the woods whilst Percy, Bill, Charlie and himself went off to help the Ministry.

Fred grabbed his sister's hand and started to the woods, but as George tried to follow he was stopped by Luna, who still held on to his hand but remained immobile.

''Luna?''

Frozen at the spot, Luna stared forward helplessly as she watched the cloaked Death Eaters throw the muggle Roberts family around like ragdolls.

''Luna, we have to go'' George's panicked whisper into her ear reminded Luna of the situation around her and she allowed him to lead her after Fred, Ginny, Harry and Hermione.

It probably had only been minutes, but the cramps in George's leg muscles made it feel as though they had been running for hours. As they got close to the woods, George and Luna had caught up and were now running level with Fred and Ginny, with Harry, Ron and Hermione just behind them. As he reached the trees, George felt as though they were no longer being followed and pivoted round so fast that Luna, whose hand he held tightly, nearly flew into a tree.

''Fred! Where are them three?''

George's shout caused Fred and Ginny to stop and turn to see the absence of their youngest brother and his two best friends.

''I thought they were right behind us''

''They were'' George shouted over the noises of the crowd. He scanned the area around him, but Ron, Harry and Hermione couldn't be seen. ''We've got to find them''

''Maybe they just ran past us without us realising'' Luna suggested, trying to reassure herself more than anyone else.

''Maybe'' Fred pondered. ''Look, them three have gotten themselves out of many tricky situations before and they all know where they should be going...we should get into the woods and try to find them there''

A nod from George showed his agreement, and Fred promptly ran into the woods with Ginny, Luna and George right beside him.

Deep amongst the trees, many people their age were waiting around looking after their younger brothers and sisters whilst their parents helped the Ministry, but there was still no sign of the missing trio.

''The forest is pretty big and there's a lot of people here'' George said to Fred, as the four of them stopped by a large tree trunk. ''Chances are that we wont be able to find Ron, Harry and Hermione even if they're only on the other side of that tree''

Fred nodded in agreement as he looked around; the crowds of families formed a barrier between his vision and everything else in the woods and the most he could see from anywhere were just the tops of heads.

Luna was sat with her back against the tree trunk and her knees up to her chest, her chin was on her knees and her arms were wrapped around her legs as the cold quickly got through her cotton pyjama t-shirt and bottoms, her trainers and her thin jacket. As she stared up into the stars in an attempt to drown out the cries of terror and fear from around her, she felt warmth on her knees and looked down to see George's hands on them, with his eyes looking intently into hers.

''Are you alright?'' He asked softly. He already knew the answer but it seemed like the easiest way to begin to comfort her.

Luna looked up at the stars again and began to wonder. ''Do you ever think it would be more peaceful up there?''

George looked up into the starry night sky that had yet to be obscure with the smoke raising from the campsite. ''I'm not sure''

''I think it would be'' Luna spoke dreamily.

''Well in that case...'' George put his arms under her knees and behind her shoulders and swept her up of the ground, sat himself down in the spot she had been in and then put her down on his lap. ''...I'll have to take you up there on my broom one day''

Luna smiled beside herself. ''I'm not sure you would be able to go that high''

''I am full of surprises'' George smirked and kissed her forehead.

''I know that'' Luna's smile fell as a blast could be heard from somewhere within the campsite and a new set of screams and cries could be heard. George felt her tense and shudder at the sound and he pulled her even closer.

''It's going to be okay'' He said into her ear and he felt her relax slightly. ''I promise''

Luna looked up at him with her silvery-blue eyes glistening with worry. ''I'll be okay as long as you're here''

''It will take a whole army of Death Eaters and You-Know-Who's to keep me away from you'' George cupped her cheeks with his hands and brought her lips to his.

The warmth in George's touch could not mask what was happening around her, but it made Luna feel as though she was in the safest place on Earth, and that was enough.

**Next chapter; The danger of the campsite is left behind as George and Luna prepare to return to Hogwarts for Year Six.**

**Please review as all feedback is greatly appreciated and is great motivation for me to write and update quicker.**


	16. An Interesting Start

After twenty or so minutes in the woods, George, Luna, Fred and Ginny had returned to the campsite, which was now safe from the marching Death Eaters. The next morning was one of little sound; only the zipping of suitcases and conversations from outside could be heard in the Weasley tent, and its occupants wasted no time in leaving as soon as everyone was ready.

Having heard about the events at the campsite, Xenophilius had returned home to be certain of his daughter's safety. George had offered to walk her home but she had politely declined and he had returned home for himself and Fred to be bombarded by their mother who was wailing and crying about how sorry she was, something neither had ever thought could possibly happen.

* * *

The next morning George walked the short journey across to Luna's house and was greeted cheerily by Xenophilius. ''Hello my boy, come in, come in!''

George walked into the cramped living room, but he could make out no sign of Luna.

''She's just upstairs'' As is he had read his mind, Xenophilius' voice broke the quietness of the Lovegood home. ''You can see her in a moment, but first I would like to speak to you''

''Alright'' George said uneasily as he sat back into one of the sofa chairs.

''Don't worry George, you haven't done anything wrong'' George was now seriously questioning Xenophilius' telepathic abilities. ''I just wanted a word with you. Yesterday, as soon as Luna was home I asked her all about what had happened, and she told me about the Death Eaters, the dark mark, and how you looked after her whilst you were in the woods''

''It was nothing'' George said humbly.

''Well I just wanted to thank you for making my little girl feel safe'' Xenophilius smiled.

''Anytime sir''

''Luna! George is here to see you'' He called upstairs and then looked back over at George. ''I trust you to be upstairs with her George, but I would feel happier with you both down here where I can see or hear you''

Xenophilius disappeared into another room and missed George's face turn a similar colour to his hair.

''Hello George'' Luna came through the doorway and ran into his open arms. ''How are you?''

''I'm good, I just received a hero's welcome from your Dad. How are you today?''

''I'm alright''

''Liar'' George said immediately, noting the hesitance in her voice.

''I had a dream, well, a nightmare really, of that night at the campsite'' George squeezed her shoulder comfortingly and she smiled up at him. ''Lets just say...things didn't go as safely and as calmly as they really did''

''I'm sure it will get better after a while''

''I know'' Luna nodded and smiled whilst mentally trying to change the conversation. ''So are you looking forward to being back at Hogwarts?''

George looked at her with his eyebrows raised. ''Do I really need to answer that question?... Oh I don't know, I suppose it would be nice to get away from my bloody mother''

''Is she still angry about those sweets you've been making?''

''No, the bloody opposite. When we got back from the Quidditch match she hugged Fred and me and told us how sorry she was. She was worried that the last thing she would ever say to us would be a telling off. Since then she been so accepting and forgiving with everything we've done''

''And that's a bad thing''

''Well it wasn't to start with. We could pretty much do what we wanted and she wouldn't get mad, but now...it just isn't that much fun causing trouble when you know that you're not going to get yelled at if you get caught''

''Oh okay'' Luna shook her head at George and his bizzare use of logic. ''So, have you decided what lessons you are taking this year?''

''It's not that hard to choose really since all teachers want at least an OWL, and I've only got three''

''I didn't think about it like that''

''Yeah it doesn't look like I'm going to be having as much work this year. At least I'll have plenty of time for Quidditch''

* * *

''Bloody typical. Last year we had shed loads of homework and exams to do, and the little spare time we had was taken up by Quidditch. This year, we have plenty of free time and Quidditch isn't happening, and to rub it in; we aren't even eligible to take part in the Tri-wizard tournament'' George ranted as himself, Luna, Fred and Lee sat outside in the courtyard of Hogwarts.

''I'm telling you, the aging potion can work'' Fred insisted.

''Come on Fred, Dumbledore is going to have considered everything that you have, and an ageing potion is the most obvious idea. Nothing is going to work''

''You sound like Granger'' Fred complained as he rolled his eyes.

''Yes because Hermione is right...she always is'' Luna said as she watched George stare off into the distance, sure to be thinking of the many curse words he had not said aloud in the Great Hall when Dumbledore had made his announcement.

''Oh not you too Luna. George talk to her''

After a short delay, George finally appeared to acknowledge that he had been spoken to and turned to look at the others. ''Look, I don't have a clue whether it will work or not, but we are not that far away from turning seventeen and I think it will be worth a shot''

Luna sighed quietly, Lee shrugged his shoulders and Fred and George excitedly began to plan their potion brewing.

* * *

Through the cheering and laughing crowd that surrounded the grey-haired and bearded Fred and George, Luna stood behind them, not smiling with humour, but with relief. People had died in that tournament, and if not, most had not escaped without some form of injury, and most of those were serious. The idea of spending her entire sixth year fearing that something may happen to the man she loved or to her best friend was a horrific one. And as she had watched the Goblet of Fire throw the two across the room in a clear sign that their attempt to enter the Tri-wizard tournament had failed, she could have drowned in the relief that overcame her.

**Next chapter; As the students find out about the Yule Ball, one twin gets a date easily and the other has to go through much more of a hassle.**

**Okay, slightly odd next chapter notice I know, but hopefully it will make some form of sense after you've read the next chapter. As you can probably tell from this chapter and the big time jump to get to the next chapter, most of these chapters are going to almost be in one-shot form from now on. I will be focusing on key events in the timeline and some parts may cross over a few chapters but it is much easier for me to write about certain situations and events for this story than others.**

**Please let me know what you think...I personally haven't been to happy with the last few chapters which is partially responsible for this new approach to the story and I really appreciate anything you have to tell me about this chapter or my new approach, hopefully you can understand where I'm coming from and will agree that it will be better for this story, and if you have any other ideas yourself then I'd love to know, even if it is that you think I should bring this story to a close; I have actually considered it myself.**

**I'll shut up now. Thanks for reading this chapter :^)**


	17. Date

''Well my year just got better'' Fred's voice dripped with sarcasm.

''It's a dance Fred, it's not that bad'' Lee walked alongside the Weasley twins down the corridor that led away from the Charms classroom.

''It's not that bad when you have someone to dance with'' Fred's pace picked up with his ranting. ''and since Quidditch hasn't been running this year none of those gorgeous Veela girls have seen how brilliant I am, they're all going to be running after Krum and Diggory'' Once he noticed that he was walking alone, he looked around at George and Lee, who were stood slightly behind him wearing smirks on heir faces. ''Oh I don't even know why I'm talking to you two, one of you has a girlfriend and the other is pretty much with Katie Bell since you've been spending so much time 'studying' together''

''You know about that?''

''Lee all of Gryffindor knows that'' George laughed as he caught up with Fred. ''What about Angelina? Fred, you two are near enough a couple anyway''

''I don't know, I know that a couple of people fancy Angie so she's probably already been asked and I want to avoid the 'I'm sorry someone's already asked me' situation at all costs''

''Okay so maybe a few people do fancy Angelina, but the difference with you is that the feeling's mutual'' George winked and walked off ahead, leaving his brother behind to think about what he had said.

* * *

''How is it, that there are so many girls around this school, yet there is no one to go with?'' Ron exclaimed as he sat in the Great Hall with Harry.

''I don't know'' Harry responded whilst pretending not to stare at the unavailable Cho Chang.

''I mean if you can't find anyone then I'm done for'' Ron sighed. ''I wonder who Hermione's going with...if she actually has got someone to go with''

''What are you going on about now Ron?'' Harry was grateful that he was being spared another one of Ron's rants about Hermione's date when he saw George taking a seat opposite them with Fred, and Lee beside him.

''Nothing'' Ron mumbled.

''Troubles getting a woman aye Ron''

''Shut up''

''I'll take that as a yes'' George smirked. ''How about you Harry; the world's most famous boy wizard, surely you've found someone'

''No, the only girl he likes is already going with someone'' Ron cut in first, deciding that if he should have to suffer from his brother's teasing then so should Harry.

''Who's Cho Chang going with?'' Fred asked.

''How did you know he meant Cho?'' Harry enquired.

''Oh only because you spent most of last year focusing on her rather than the golden snitch'' George thought back to the previous year's Quidditch matches and Harry's obvious attraction to Ravenclaw's new seeker.

''So who's she going with?'' Fred pressed.

''Cedric Diggory''

''Oh I wonder why...'' George put on a curious expression. ''Cedric Diggory; Hogwarts champion (well one of them), tall-''

''a smarmy smile that has the power to make girls act like idiots-'' Fred added.

''Thanks guys'' Harry said in a way that told them to end the conversation.

''Sorry Harry'' George said genuinely. ''But let's face it, Diggory is definitely not the smartest guy in the world, Cho clearly isn't going with him for his brains''

''Yeah after the Yule Ball she may not be so bothered about public appearances and she might go for the personality, in that case; she might go for an ugly sod like you''

''Thanks Fred'' Harry sighed and made a mental note to get Ron back for bringing him into his brothers taunting.

''So who are you going with then?'' Ron looked suspiciously over at his brothers.

''I am going with Angie'' Fred said with a triumphant smile knowing that Ron was hoping for him to say that he hadn't found a date yet.

''Since when?''

''Since a few days ago, just got it over with and asked her in my own charming way''

''What did you do, give her an exploding candy and then ask her as she was taken to St Mungo's'' Ron quipped.

Fred didn't answer and instead threw a bread roll at his younger brother's head.

''I guess I don't need to ask about you'' Ron addressed the younger twin.

''Nope, that's just one advantage of having a girlfriend'' George beamed.

''Really? Because I heard Luna talking to one of her friends in Ravenclaw and apparently she hasn't been asked to the Yule Ball yet'' Lee spoke with a smirk.

''What?'' George exclaimed. ''I have ask-'' He was silent as he thought for a moment, and then leapt from his seat and ran out of the Great Hall.

George walked at a rushed pace down the corridor from the Great Hall and noticed Hermione and Ginny chatting in the corridor.

''Hey, have you two seen Luna?'' George asked as he came to a stop by the two girls.

''She was heading to her common room'' Ginny replied and had barely finished before George had begun walking briskly towards the staircase.

After several corridors and many stairs, George finally saw Luna walking alone towards the Ravenclaw common room.

''Luna'' She stopped at his voice and turned, wearing her usual soft smile.

''Hello George'' Her smile faltered as she noticed George's expression. ''Is everything alright?''

''Why did you tell one of your friends that I hadn't asked you to the Yule Ball?''

''Because you haven't'' Luna answered sincerely.

''I haven't?''

''No''

''But I assumed that since...errrghhh'' He groaned in exasperation and ran his hands over his face.

Luna laughed. ''I suppose it wont make you feel better if I tell you that I have had other offers''

All emotion dropped from George's face and he looked at her intently. ''Who?''

Luna put on a serious expression for a moment, but it faltered as she looked at George's face. ''I was kidding. I don't think anyone is particularly willing to ask the girlfriend of George Weasley to the Yule Ball''

George let out a sigh of relief. ''Thank Merlin. I really didn't want to go around planting some Weasley products into some bloke's food''

''I bet you did really. Well, I hope you find a date George'' Luna gave him a cheeky smile before pivoting around and continuing to walk towards her common room. But she was stopped abruptly when a pair of arms grabbed her around the waist from behind and lifted her feet off the ground.

''I already have found a date'' George's breathe tickled Luna's ear and caused her to giggle quietly. ''I just need her to say yes''

''Are you sure she likes you?'' Luna pretended to attempt to squirm out of his hold, but she had no wish to be released, and George's strengthening hold showed that he didn't want her to be freed either.

''She thinks I'm devilishly handsome and witty'' George quipped. ''She told me herself on the many occasions where we sneaked off to the broom shed in my back garden''

''I see, maybe she will go with you then''

''Hmmm, you think so?''

Luna jumped out of his hold and turned to face him. ''I think she wants to go with you. So you should expect to see her at the Yule Ball, and she'll be expecting to dance with no one but you''

George leaned in closely to Luna's face and kept his mouth only an inch away from her own. ''I think she'll be getting exactly what she expects...and maybe even more''

''Good'' Luna said no more, knowing that her voice would falter at the warmth of George's breath on her face.

''Good'' George repeated in a hushed whisper. Losing his will power, George closed the gap between himself and Luna and captured her lips between his, ran his fingers into her long blonde hair and pulled her close.

In a brief moment where George opened his eyes, he saw a dark figure crossing the corridor and he jumped back, causing Luna to stumble slightly at the sudden absence of George's touch. She watched as George's eyes focused on something behind her, but she did not look to see herself.

George watched Professor Snape glide across the corridor a short distance behind them. Snape took only a moment to look at George with his permanent sneer and then disappeared down the hallways of Hogwarts.

''Sorry, but if we got caught snogging by Snape then Fred would never let us live it down''

''It's alright, I need to be getting to my common room anyway''

''Oh I was hoping to continue from where we left off''

''Tempting'' Luna kissed George briefly but pulled away before he could keep hold of her. ''But I'm afraid we'll just have to carry on later''

''You are cruel Miss Lovegood'' George called as he watched her get further away down the corridor and she only responded by turning back to him with a cheeky grin on her face that could match his very own.

**Next chapter: It's the Yule Ball (enough said)**

**Please review, all feedback is greatly appreciated and it makes me a very happy writer.**


	18. Yule Ball

''I feel like an idiot.'' George declared as he dropped his hands to his sides. He had been stood at the mirror for five minutes trying to do up his bowtie to no avail.

''Oh come on George it's not that bad...you do remember what Ron's wearing don't you?'' Fred joked.

''Yeah well Ron may look bloody ridiculous but at least he can dress himself.'' George sighed and threw his tie on to his bed.

''Just leave it, maybe Luna can do it up for you later.'' Fred suggested as he wiped down his dress robes and double-checked himself in his own full length mirror.

''Yeah I suppose I could.''

''Are you coming?'' Fred asked as he headed towards the exit of the dormitory.

''No, you go ahead, I'm not quite ready.''

''Alright fine, but I will start making jokes about Ron's dress robes without you.'' Fred disappeared and left a very anxious George behind to finish getting ready.

* * *

Fred had left the dormitory in full confidence, but as he got closer to the Great Hall (and to Angelina) he found his nerves increasing. With his pace slowing down, he continued down the looming corridors, passing many giggling younger girls and several couples who had decided to have some alone time before the ball had even begun.

His feet actually froze as he reached the top of the stairs that lead to the entrance of the Great Hall. Weary of continuing, Fred looked over the mass gathering of dressed up students waiting and talking, and found himself in a rare situation where he was actually paranoid about what others thought. He failed in his search to find a familiar face to talk to in amongst the crowd and wished that he had waited for George to come with him, and then in the corner of his eye he saw someone approaching near to where he stood, and felt a familiar presence.

Walking up to him was Luna. In exchange of her dark blue and silver house colours, Luna wore pale blue dress robes that made her silver eyes even more profound than usual. Her wavy long hair had been curled into loose ringlets and a headband decorated with light blue flowers was in amongst her blonde locks as decoration. The make-up she wore was to a bare minimum, with only a light addition of blue to her eyelids and some gloss to add a sparkle to her lips. Her radish earrings had been replaced with sapphire studs, and a silver necklace finished off her angelic look.

''Hello Fred.'' Luna's voice sounded as nervous as Fred felt.

''Luna you look amazing.'' Fred took no shame in admitting it, whether George liked it or not; a lot of people were going to be thinking the same thing.

''Really?''

''Yes really, someone's going to have to pick up George's jaw off the ground after he sees you...I have to admit I was expecting something a bit more...''

''Luna like.'' She finished with a small laugh.

''Well yeah,'' Fred admitted. It was no secret to anyone that Luna was eccentric in more ways than one, and Fred had assumed that what Luna would be wearing would reflect that eccentricity. He had been proven wrong.

''My dad sent these to me,'' Luna gestured to her dress robes. ''they belonged to my mum when she was my age and Dad said that she had wanted to give them to me when I was older. I saw pictures of Mum wearing them and I tried to look as closely as I could to how she did.''

''Well you look gorgeous Luna.'' Someone caught Fred's eye outside of the Great Hall. ''But despite how gorgeous you look, I'm afraid I have a gorgeous lady of my own waiting for me.''

Luna followed Fred's gaze to Angelina who was smiling up at him. ''You better go Fred.''

''I'll see you later, and if my brother misbehaves then come get me,'' Fred joked as he pulled her into a hug. ''I'll have him hanging from a chandelier by his bowtie in less than ten seconds.''

Luna laughed as Fred, whose confidence had returned once he had seen Angelina, ran down the stairs to meet his date. Fred's words had comforted her marginally, but never before had someone's opinion of her mattered so much; the look on George's face when he saw her would make or break her night, and she couldn't have wished for anything more than for it to be the first option.

''Sorry,'' Mumbled a tall red-head as he bumped into Luna's back whist trying to fix his bowtie. Luna thought for a moment again about her nerves, until her head snapped around to the boy who had just passed and her eyes widened.

''George?''

The boy stopped in his tracks and the hands that were trying to fix the bowtie dropped leaving the tie hanging loosely around his neck. He did a quick pivot on his shoes and Luna found herself staring into the adoring gaze of George Weasley.

''I guess you didn't recognise me,'' Luna said shyly with a crooked smile.

''No...I didn't...I...'' George closed the distance between them and stood directly in front of her, the longer he looked, the bigger his eyes and smile grew. ''I wasn't sure what to expect but...''

''I never thought I would see the day where you were speechless,'' Luna laughed lightly.

''I never thought I would see the day when I would get to take the most beautiful girl in school to the Yule Ball.''

Luna blushed furiously, causing George's smile to grow. ''You don't look to bad yourself...except from your bowtie.''

George's smile dropped and he looked at the offending item with frustration. ''Can you please help me? I can't get this bloody thing on and I'm about to set it on fire if I can't get it tied.''

Luna took the two ends of the tie that hung around his neck and began to tie it. ''My dad has to wear these when he goes to meetings for the _Quibbler, _I've seen him do these a million times.''

Luna took her hands away and George looked down at his now perfect-looking bowtie. ''You really are a miracle Luna Lovegood.''

* * *

''Everybody; into the Great Hall now, champions; stay here.'' Professor McGonagall instructed, having appeared from within the Great Hall.

As the huge crowd down the stairs began to make their way inside the Great Hall, George held out a hand. ''Are you ready to go?''

''Of course.'' Luna took his hand and he led her down the stairs. ''Are you?''

''Definitely. Even if I can't dance well, it will still be worth it just to see Ron in those dress robes of his.''

As they slowly made their way into the entrance of the Great Hall, Luna's eyes widened at the sight she could see between the other students. The wooden-looking, historical Great Hall had become somewhat of an ice palace; with crystal chandeliers, grand statues made of frozen water, and walls that looked as though they had been frozen over. Yet the room felt as warm and as inviting as it always did. George, however, barely acknowledged the sight before him, favouring the view of his girlfriend, who looked like an angel amongst the silver and icy blues of the room.

* * *

After watching the traditional opening dance with the champions from each school, the dance floor had been taken over by couples, swaying and dancing to the slow orchestral music being played. Deep within the crowd stood George and Luna, who were both experiencing the best night of their lives, and only around half an hour of it had passed so far.

George held Luna to him, with her head resting over his heart and his chin resting on her hair. Looking up, George's eyes met Fred's, who was looking at him from over Angelina's shoulder. Fred indicated to his right; directly to where Ron was stood, doing something that could hardly be called dancing considering the fact that he was barely moving, whilst the Patel twin he was with (George didn't know which one was with Ron and which one was with Harry) looked as though she would happily be hit with a stinging jinx if it meant getting out of the room. As much as Fred and George had enjoyed laughing at their younger brother's unfortunate outfit earlier, both actually looked on at him with sympathy, knowing exactly why he appeared to be so miserable...and who could change that fact.

''Is something wrong?'' A soft dreamy voice brought George's attention back to the girl he held in his arms.

''No, how could anything be wrong?''

''You had a sad look in your eyes.'' George gave a small smile; of course she had noticed, Luna could read him like a book.

''I was just looking at my miserable looking brother.'' George sighed.

''I see...why didn't he ask Hermione sooner?'' Luna pondered.

George pulled back from her slightly and looked at her with a furrowed brow. ''You know he likes Hermione?''

''I think it's safe to say that Hermione is the only person that cannot tell,'' Luna put her head back to rest on George's chest. ''after all, it was the same for us.''

George smiled into her hair. ''Yeah, maybe I should tell him to stop being an idiot and to just tell her how he feels; I wish I had done that.''

Luna chuckled softly. ''Well it worked out very well for us in the end, hopefully it will for them too.''

After the loud guitar solos and the thumping drum beats of the Weird Sisters had been spreading through the Great Hall for twenty or so minutes, Luna was sat, resting at one of the large circular tables whilst George had disappeared to fetch drinks.

''Hey beautiful,'' Luna nearly jumped out of her seat as she felt George's warm breath by her ear. ''don't worry, it's only me.''

Luna turned to look to George, who was crouched down behind her seat so that he was eye level with her. ''I thought you were going to get drinks.'' She observed his empty hands.

''I was, but then I thought of a better way to cool down.'' George stood up to his full height and held out his hand.

George led Luna out of the Great Hall and towards the large main doors that led out to the courtyard. ''George, what are we doing?''

''Taking a break from all that dancing.'' Luna could hear the smile on his face.

As they walked into the courtyard Luna saw what she assumed was carriages for the Beauxbaton and Durmstrang students to arrive in. From within the carriages, she could hear the playful laughter and heavy breathing of couples who had apparently tired to dancing.

''George, are you about to pull me into an unattended carriage?'' Luna stopped suddenly, causing George to jolt backwards due to their linked hands.

He raised an eyebrow. ''Only if you want me to find one for us?''

Luna opened her mouth to retort but was stopped as the sound of a carriage door being slammed open shook the courtyard.

''Smith, Bennett; twenty points from Hufflepuff each.'' Snape's loud and harsh voice spoke as two red-faced fifth years stepped out of the carriage and ran off back into the castle.

As Luna looked worriedly at the patrolling Snape, George used his hold on her hand to pull her round the outside wall of the courtyard and she ran after him as they sped down the adjacent slope.

They could see some others sat by the smaller lakes that were within the Hogwarts grounds, but George led her over to a large group of stones set into the ground.

''What do you think will happen if Snape finds us down here?'' Luna asked. George wrapped his arms around her waist and they stood almost nose to nose, they were so close together.

''I think I will get seriously angry that he interrupted my private time with you...just because he isn't getting any, it doesn't mean that the rest of us shouldn't either.''

Luna put her arms around his neck and thanked Merlin for the heels that she had decided to wear for the ball that helped with the difference in their heights. As Luna's silver eyes looked deeply at him, George felt the humour disappear from him, something he didn't think could happen, and all he could do was look back at her with his own light brown orbs.

''Thank you for tonight,'' Luna closed her eyes and put her forehead against his. ''thank you for being my best friend,'' She opened her eyes again and George brushed a thumb across her cheek. ''but most all, thank you for being you.''

''You're very welcome.'' George tilted his head and gave her a soft kiss on the lips. Luna's smile beamed as he pulled away, but she could not hide the shiver that ran through her. ''Here, have this.''

George shrugged off his long black robe and ignored Luna's protests as he put it across her shoulders. Knowing he wouldn't take no for an answer, Luna put her arms through the sleeves that were far too long for her. ''Thank you,''

''You need to stop thanking me for everything,'' George smirked. ''I know I'm pretty wonderful but still...''

''Well I have a lot to be thankful for, this has been the best night of my life.''

George offered her a soft smile before kissing her again, as Luna melted into his embrace, George moved his kisses from her mouth to her jaw, running from her ear to her chin before taking her lips in his again, and then eventually pulling away.

''I don't want today to end.'' Luna's rushed heartbeat slowed at the absence of George's touch, and she found herself hating the sight of the rising moon.

''Yeah me neither.''

''Maybe we should run off,'' Luna indicated to large wood just a few yards away. ''and make this night last forever.''

With an infectious smile, Luna beamed at him before running off into the woods. Smiling after her, George listened to her giggle as she got further away from him for a few moments, before running after her. Anything to make the night last for as long as possible.

**Next chapter; As the second task approaches, Fred and George's betting business grows stronger, and Fred turns to Luna for help with his relationship.**

**Sorry about the slow update, but I would rather take longer to update and give you a really good chapter, than update really fast and give a rubbish chapter, but hopefuly it won't continue to take this long.**

**Please review, it will make me very happy and I will know that people are still reading this story.**


	19. The Odds

**I am so sorry, I have been unable to access any of my Harry Potter stories for almost two weeks now and so, have not been able to edit or update. **

''Okay so that's five galleons on Krum.'' Fred took the bet and gave Alicia an appreciative smile. ''Thanks for the business Alicia.''

''No problem, might as well make some money out of this tournament if we can't win the money for ourselves.'' Alicia waved and walked off down the Gryffindor table.

''I can't believe that you're both putting bets against Harry to win.'' Luna said disapprovingly as she entered the Great Hall and stood by the table Fred was at.

''Hey it's not me putting the bets against him, it's everyone else, although I could do with Harry not winning this one; we'll earn a fortune if Fleur wins.'' Fred looked over at his twin brother, who was busy placing a large number of people's bets from behind Luna. ''And if you're going to lecture me then you can lecture him too.''

George appeared beside Luna at that moment, a puzzled expression was across his face. ''Lecture me on what; the whole betting business?'' Fred nodded at his brother. ''She already has.''

''People get hurt in this tournament. You could be making money out of other people's injuries.'' Luna said defiantly.

''Look Luna,'' George put an arm around her and gave her temple a soft kiss. ''it's just a bit of harmless fun, albeit with an ingenious money making scheme within it.''

''Of course.'' Luna smiled up at him and then slid on to the bench seat that ran along the long house tables.

''Yeah, but Mum would be furious if she found out.'' Ginny pointed out as she walked past them.

''Mum's furious at us all the time so that will be nothing new.'' Fred commented.

''Yeah but when you get home with a bagful of Galleons she's going to think you've robbed someone and she'll be even angrier than usual.'' Ginny added. Neither George nor Fred retorted, both knowing that she was right, but prefering not to admit it.

''So, who's the favourite to win the second task?' Lee enquired.

''Cedric and Harry are pretty much level on favourites to win,'' Fred answered, peering through people's bets. ''But we've been getting bets from mostly Hogwarts students so that's bound to happen.''

''Apart from the Slytherins; they'd rather Krum win than see a Gryffindor or Hufflepuff get the Triwizard Cup.'' George interjected from his seat beside Luna.

''Yeah, well at least a Gryffindor got the opportunity to try and get the cup.'' Fred laughed at the expense of the Slytherin house.

''As much as your humour fascinates me Mr Weasley,'' Everyone tensed at the sound of Professor Snape's monotone voice. He was stood directly behind Fred with his greasy hair falling around his cold eyes. ''I would appreciate it if you and your peers began to make your way to the Potions classroom as class begins in five minutes. Although if you and your brother intend to behave in your usual manner then I may prefer it if you don't attend.''

As Snape quickly glided away, Lee burst out laughing. ''Well that timing couldn't have been better.''

''Shut up,'' Fred muttered at he got up with the others and headed for, what was certain to be, a horrible lesson.

* * *

''Maybe we should have done what he'd said and not shown up.'' Fred considered as he stood on the rotating staircase with George and Luna.

''No, I'm glad we went.'' George's voice dripped with sarcasm and he leant against the banister with his chin resting on his palm.

''Oh look Luna, Georgie's upset because he got himself a detention with Professor Snape, again.''

''How was I supposed to know the difference between an Egyptian dung beetle and an Australian sand beetle?'' George defended.

''Well, when the Australian sand beetle caused your potion to melt your cauldron, that may have been a sign that it was the wrong one.''

''Bugger off.''

''Would you two stop it?'' Luna asked. ''Neither of you are strangers to Snape's bad side; Fred, only last week you blew up your Droxycide potion in Lee's face.''

''Ha,'' George laughed and put an arm around his girlfriend, who Fred stood and glared at.

''Hey at least Lee looked like more of an idiot than I did with his face covered in potion.''

''Yeah but Lee didn't have to clean the floor of Snape's classroom without magic.'' George chuckled at the memory of Fred's sheepish expression as he had dozily walked into the Gryffindor common five hours after he had left for his detention.

''Laugh now, but in ten minutes time you're going to be sat scrubbing out cauldrons with a toothbrush, and without having any dinner.'' Fred quickly removed the smile of his brother's face.

''Honestly, you two.'' Luna shook her head, but couldn't stop herself from smiling at the bickering brothers.

''You love us both really.'' Fred smiled as the three stepped off the immobile stairway.

''No, she loves me,'' George corrected. ''you're just a pain in the backside.''

''Well I am just like you.'' Fred quipped. ''Except from, I'm now going to eat some delicious food, and you get to scrub out some ancient cauldrons that are older than Dumbledore.''

''I would say something back, but you're right,'' George admitted. He would only ever admit defeat to his brother or to Luna, but no one else. ''I'll see you later.''

George gave Luna a quick kiss and then disappeared down the corridor, heading towards the Potions room whilst Fred and Luna continued towards the direction of the Great Hall.

''How are you Fred?'' Luna enquired suddenly.

''I'm alright. Why'd you ask?''

''Because you've been awfully sad lately.'' The Lovegood intuition reared its insightful head. ''Everyone else might not have noticed, but George and I have.''

''You have?''

''Well we never really got around to talking to you about it, but we both noticed something.''

''Oh yeah, and what's that?''

''Angelina doesn't seem to be around very much.''

The look on Fred's face told her that she was on to something. ''No, she doesn't.''

''What happened Fred?''

''We both have very different ideas about our relationship,'' The pair entered the Great Hall and rather than tuck into a meal, they sat opposite each other at the end of the table and continued to talk.

''What different ideas?''

Fred peered round the room, checking that Angelina was not in close proximity. ''She thinks that we should be alone together at any opportunity we can get, but I want to spend time alone with her, and with you, George and Lee as well.''

''Have you tried explaining that to her?''

''Yes, but she just said that I care more about you three than I do her.'' Fred rested his chin on his palm. ''She's almost like a different person. There's the Angelina who has been one of my best friends since first year, and now there's also the Angelina who's my girlfriend, and to be honest she's a pain in the arse.''

''Maybe that's the problem. You and Angelina have been friends for so long that neither of you really know how to be a proper couple, that was what it was like for George and I in the beginning as well. I think you need to talk to Angelina, and I'm sure you can figure things out.''

''I never knew you and George had that problem.''

Luna smiled. ''That's only because you're not as observant as I am, and George and I talked about that problem really early on and after that, it wasn't so much of an issue.''

''You really think talking to her will help?''

''Yes I do. Now, stop worrying, and lets go get some dinner.'' Luna rose from her seat and started towards the other end of the table where their friends were already eating. Fred walked around the table and followed behind her.

''I don't know what I'd do without you,'' Fred muttered as they sat down next to Lee, who was looking at a piece of ham with disgust.

''I'm sure you would manage. And it doesn't matter if you couldn't, I'm not going anywhere.'' Luna turned her attention to the selection of food before her, but Fred continued to stare at her in adoration. Luna noticed this out of the corner of her eye, and gave him a perplexed look. ''What is it?''

''It's nothing.''

* * *

The quietness in the Gryffindor common room was abruptly broken by the loud huff that emerged from George as he slumped back into a vacant arm chair.

Fred was one of the few others who hadn't yet gone to bed and was sat across the sofa. He observed his brother, who was leant back in his chair with his eyes shut. ''I'm guessing your evening with Snape went well.''

''What time is it?'' George didn't open his eyes to look at Fred.

''Almost ten.''

This response sent George forwards in his seat and his eyes were wide with shock...or horror, Fred couldn't tell. ''Five and a half hours! That's it! It felt as though that detention lasted half a week.''

''Still, what did Snape have you doing for five and half hours?''

''Let's just say the Potions lab will be spotless tomorrow. I cleaned everything in that bloody room and Snape didn't let me leave until it was all to his standards. A bit hypocritical coming from a man who's hair could double as an oily mop.''

Fred chuckled. ''Sounds like fun.''

George sneered at Fred's amusement. ''Anyways, have I missed anything interesting?''

''Luna finally asked me what the problem was between Angelina and I.''

''Oh good. I was worried I was going to have to do it...so, what is the problem between you and Angelina?''

Fred shook his head at George's nosiness. ''Apparently we're struggling to get used to being a couple. According to Luna anyways.''

''Is she right?''

''Probably, what she said made sense.''

''Well I'm glad,'' George rose from his seat and began to slowly walk towards the dormitories. ''You and Angelina go well together.''

''Yeah, I just hope I eventually find myself with someone who's as good for me as Luna is for you.'' Fred said as he walked with his brother.

''Don't worry Fred. One day you'll find your very own girl to be with; who'll make you happy, will understand you...and, most importantly, will accept the fact that you're a giant pain in the arse sometimes.''

Fred laughed along with his brother. ''Yeah I hope so.''

In his mind Fred imagined who that girl could be. However, the girl he imagned was nothing like Angelina. It was Luna.

**Next chapter; Fred's mixed feelings cause a rift between himself and George during the second task.**

**If I've made what's happening with Fred a bit too cryptic, then all will become clear next chapter. This bit of plot will carry over for about two more chapters and then I will be moving on to the Order of the Phoenix, and then this story will come to an end.**

**Thank you to those of you who are still reading this story. Hope you continue to enjoy. **


	20. Signals

Following the longest History of Magic lesson they had ever had to experience, Luna, Fred and George headed into the Great Hall for lunch. From down the table all three noticed Fred receive a dark glare from Angelina.

''I'm guessing you never got around to talking to her.'' George concluded as he took a seat.

''Not exactly, she won't give me the chance to talk to her before she bites my bloody head off about something.''

''If you would like, I could speak to her for you?'' Luna offered.

''Thanks Luna, but don't bother.''

''Why? If it gets you two to stop throwing daggers at each other all the time I think Luna should talk to her.'' George commented.

''Because me and her just don't work as a couple. It's not worth the hassle.'' Fred began to fill his face with any food he could reach, a way of telling Luna and George that the conversation was over.

''Well if that isn't what's been bothering you, then what is?'' George asked, ignoring Fred's hope of getting off the subject.

''What do you mean?''

''You've been acting weird all week,'' George said as if the answer was obvious. ''You seem a bit off with everyone, including us.''

Luna looked at George as if to say 'why bring me into this' and then looked over at Fred. ''We're just worried about you Fred; you seem different to your usual self. We know that what's happening with Angelina is difficult because you have been friends with her for so long, but I don't want it to start affecting our friendship aswell.''

Fred's expression softened at Luna's words. ''It won't I promise.''

''Oh well I wouldn't believe that then Luna, the last time Fred made a promise it was to not put a toad in Percy's bed sheets, and he did anyways.'' George smirked.

Fred laughed. ''Yeah well that was a stupid promise I made to Percy...he was an idiot to think that I wouldn't still do it.''

''Well as long as you keep your promise to me, I don't mind.'' Luna placed a couple of sandwiches into her bag and stood up.

''Where are you going?'' George asked.

''The sun is at its highest point in the sky, I would much rather watch that in the fresh air...''

''Than listen to us two go on all lunch.'' George finished.

Luna looked as though she was about to protest when a small smirk formed on her face. ''Yes actually, I would.''

As Luna cheerily walked out of the Great Hall, George turned from looking in the direction of his girlfriend, to his brother. ''Do you think we're having a lasting effect on her?''

Fred, who was in the middle of eating a mouthful of bread, spoke as he chewed. ''Probably,''

* * *

Care of Magical Creatures was proving to be just as boring as History of Magic, with Hagrid making the class do observations of creatures in the woods. The whole class was sat in amongst the trees with a sheet of parchment in front of them, and only Luna appeared to have noticed something. Fred watched as Luna continuously scribbled on her piece of parchment doing drawings and notes on things that everyone else had missed. George was on the other side of Luna to Fred and his head was bowed down low, and Fred was fairly sure he had fallen asleep.

Luna looked up with curiosity, as if she had heard something and a bright smile grew on her face as she went back to her paper and began sketching again. Fred observed Luna's beaming profile and wondered if George had been looking at her that intently all those times he had been caught gazing. Weary of what he was doing, Fred chose to look down at his paper rather than across at Luna.

''Is something troubling you Fred?'' Luna asked without looking up from her drawings.

''No,'' Fred responded a little to fast.

''I don't think Hagrid will mind too much if you don't see anything.''

''I'm not worried about Hagrid. I'm not worried about anything.'' Fred said, trying to convince both her and himself.

''You always have something to talk about, and if you don't, then you always have some practical joke to play. Yet, you're sitting here in silence.''

''So is George,''

''He's asleep. He hasn't been feeling well since lunch.''

''Still, even when he's asleep he still makes as much noise as he does when he's awake. He snores like a pig with the flu.''

Luna's chuckle caused Fred to smile. ''That's lovely,''

''It's also true.''

''What's true?'' George said tiredly as he lifted his head up.

''That you snore like a pig.''

George looked to Luna and saw her try to hold in her laugh, and then glared at his smirking twin. ''You're one to talk.''

''I don't snore,''

''How are you feeling George?'' Luna asked, deciding to work them out of yet another random argument.

''Like I've been stepped on by a troll.'' He replied as he rested his forehead against Luna's shoulder.

''Maybe you should tell Hagrid,'' Fred suggested. ''You'll probably be allowed the rest of the afternoon off. We've got potions last so...''

''Yeah I'm going to talk to Hagrid.'' Knowing that he would get out of Potions was all it took to convince him. George slowly got up, told them that he would see them later and went over to Hagrid. Fred saw him say something to Hagrid and with a small nod coming from the half-giant; George began to walk out of the woods.

* * *

''How is he?'' Luna asked as soon as Fred walked out of the portrait hole.

''He's not there, he's in the Hospital Wing,'' Luna's large eyes widen with worry and Fred immediately put an arm around her and held her close. ''He's going to be fine. Katie was coming from a study period in the hall when he came in from Magical Creatures; she said he looked as though he was about to pass out so she took him to Madame Pomfrey to be safe. She said he hadn't come back into the common so he's probably still there.''

''Did Katie say anything about what was wrong with him?'' Luna pulled away from Fred's hold and wrapped her own arms around herself.

''No, once they were in the hospital wing Madame Pomfrey told her to go back to lessons.''

''Well I'm going to go and find out,''

''You don't need too,'' Ron appeared at the top of the staircase. ''I just went to see him but Madame Pomfrey told me he had already been released. If he's not in the common room, he's probably looking for you two in the Great Hall.''

''What was wrong with him?''

''Something he ate for lunch apparently, but she says he's fine now.'' Ron gave a small departing smile, gave the password and entered the Gryffindor common room.

''See, he's fine,'' Fred reassured Luna, who still looked worried. ''If we go down to the Great Hall the chances are he'll be there waiting; like Ron said.''

''It's just...he's never sick...''

''I know he isn't, but he's fine. Why are you still worried?''

''I just am...''

Fred put a gentle hand on her shoulder and used his other hand to tilt her chin up to look at him. ''Luna, it will take a lot more than some disgusting food to keep George down. And it will take a whole lot more than that to keep him away from you for more than a couple of hours.''

''It's just...what you said Katie told you, about him looking as though he was going to faint. I keep seeing him like that in my head.''

The fact that Luna, the person who was always there to see the light in even the darkest of things, was so upset about this, unnerved Fred. ''Luna, is there something else you need to tell me?''

Luna's expression told him the answer was yes, but that he was the brother she wasn't going to open up to, which hurt Fred more than he would admit. Despite not being the twin she wanted to confide in, Fred opened his arms to her, showing her that he was still happy to be the one that comforted her.

A grateful smile crossed Luna's face as she rested her head on Fred's chest and he wrapped his arms tightly around her. Resting his chin on her head, without realising, Fred breathed in the sweet scent of Luna's hair, but Luna, almost in a meditative state, did not notice.

Having paused at the sight of their embrace, George however, had noticed Fred's actions and with concerned eyes began to piece together, what was, the true reason for Fred's recent odd behaviour.

**Next chapter; George gets answers. Luna opens up about an old issue for her, and Fred opens up about how he feels towards Luna.**

**What's wrong with Luna at the end of this chapter is explained in the next chapter so if you're confused, don't worry, you won't be.**

**I am so sorry about the slow updates but for some reason I am finding it much harder to write for this story than my others. I know what will occur in the next few chapters as I move on into Order of the Phoenix so hopefully I will get faster.**

**I would love any reviews as feedback is great inspiration to write, and I promise I will get better with updates, although I can't get much worse.**


	21. Time to Talk

**Sorry about the long wait again, but this chapter is longer than usual (for my stories anyway).**

**Before I start I just want to mention a couple of issues brought up ****in a review that I think I should mention to everyone who's reading as they are very good points;**

**Firstly, Luna's personality. I have picked probably the hardest character in the HP world to write and will not use that as an excuse. With post-DH stories it's easier to write for Luna because she will have obviously grown up a lot from the girl she was before, but this is pre-DH. I promise to do my very hardest to keep her as the Luna we all know and love and I hope that you wonderful people who take your time to read my story will appreciate that fact and I promise I will do my very best with her characterisation. Secondly, Fred and George's relationship. One of the things I love most about Fred and George is their connection; the fact that they're best friends as well as brothers, and so that will be a very strong feature in this story, but I understand that twins (and all siblings) will not always get along and there is some tension between the two in this chapter and there will be more coming up in a few chapters time. **

**A big thank you to SuchStuffAsDreamsAreMadeFrom for bringing up these points as well as your kind comments about this story. I welcome any constructive critisism (It's what all writers work from, I know I definately do) and I hope you continue to enjoy the story.**

George moved around the corner and cleared his throat. Immediately, Luna pulled away from Fred and ran over to George with concern-filled eyes. He gave her a reassuring smile that did little to ease her worry as she held his face in her hands. ''Are you alright?''

''Of course I am,'' George brushed away stray strands of hair out of her eyes and pulled her closer to him. ''I'm sorry I worried you.''

''Did Madame Pomfrey have any idea what it was?'' Fred asked after a few silent moments, reminding them that he was there.

''Err, not exactly. She thinks it was something I ate. Apparently people have been in and out of the hospital wing for the last few days. All I know is that I'm going to give dinner a miss.''

''Are you staying in the common room or...''

''No, I'm not going into the common room just yet.'' George answered whilst looking at Luna.

''Oh don't worry about leaving me; I'm not going to the Great Hall anyway. I'd rather go for a walk.'' Luna informed them.

''You're not going to eat?''

''I'm not really hungry anymore. I'll see you later.'' Luna began to walk off, but before George could go after her, Fred grabbed on to his arm.

''What?''

''When she found out what happened to you, she really panicked George. There's something more going on with her and I think you're the only person she's going to open up to.''

George didn't miss the sadness in Fred's voice, but that wasn't what was important at that moment. ''Do you have any idea of what it's about?''

''Nope,'' Fred shook his head. ''she wouldn't say.''

''Thanks for looking out for her Fred,'' George told him honestly. Despite the alarm bells ringing in his head, he always had, and always would appreciate the protectiveness Fred had over Luna.

''No problem. You better get going.'' Fred gestured to the, now, empty corridor and George started after Luna.

* * *

When he found her, she was sat in one of the courtyard's archways; her silver eyes were staring off far into the distance and a gentle breeze blew her long tresses away from her face. For a few moments, George stood and watched her, thinking about the many bizarre yet purely Luna-like thoughts that must have been running through her head.

''Unless you have developed telepathy, I doubt you will find any answers by staring at me.'' The corner of Luna's lips turned up into a small smile, but she continued to stare forwards.

''What makes you think that I'm looking for answers?'' George asked as he sat down beside her.

''Because I know that Fred would have told you that something was upsetting me. So you are here to find out what it was?'' Luna said serenely as she looked at him with her bight smile, which told him that she didn't mind his asking, but was also one which dared him to claim otherwise.

''The all knowing Luna Lovegood speaks again.'' George watched as Luna's smile faded, and her eyes went off to somewhere else. ''What is it Luna?''

''It's quite silly really,''

''Well, you tell me, and then I'll tell you whether it's silly or not.'' George put an arm across her shoulders and she relaxed under his touch.

''Shortly before Mum died, she got sick. It was nothing too serious; a simple stomach bug that could be cured with a simple antidote. Of course, Mum was one of those people who could never just sit around and do nothing even when she was sick; a bit like you. Despite Dad telling her to stay in bed until he could go to fetch her medicine, Mum got up and started doing her usual magical experiments like everything was fine...and then it all went badly wrong and she was killed. Dad was later told that Mum mixed volatile ingredients together...meaning her illness must have caused her to lose concentration, or to hallucinate.'' Luna's eyes then focused on George, whose hand had moved over hers. ''If my mum had rested and had accepted the fact that she was sick, then she might still be here. You and Fred are always experimenting with things; most of which are meant to blow up when you make them correctly. When I found out that you were ill in a very similar way to Mum...''

''...You were worried I might do something and hurt myself.'' George finished for her. Luna nodded and George gave her hand a reassuring squeeze. ''Luna, Madame Pomfrey gave me some stuff to take and, honestly, I feel perfectly fine now, and even if I was unwell; I would be careful.''

Luna looked at him sceptically and George smirked as a thought crossed his mind. ''Well if you don't believe me, then when I am ill; I'm going to have to have around the clock care from a very attractive nurse.''

The corner of Luna's mouth turned up into a crooked smile but she looked at him with narrow eyes. ''I hope you're talking about me, George Weasley.''

''I don't know, there is that really cute barmaid in the Three Broomsticks...'' He joked, earning a playful whack on the arm from Luna. ''Ouch, I see you're feeling better then.''

''Much better,'' Luna chuckled.

After escorting Luna to the Ravenclaw portrait, George slowly made his way to the Gryffindor common room. After being assured that Luna was now alright, George's worry turned to Fred, or to Fred's feelings; to be more exact. His brother had been acting oddly for several weeks, but it had always been put down to problems with Angelina. But as George thought more about what had had seen earlier with Fred and Luna; he began to seriously question the truth.

The common room was packed with Gryffindors. It was the time of evening that was late enough for everyone to be heading to their common room, but not late enough for many to be heading to their dormitories. Spotting Ron with Harry and Hermione on the chairs by the fireplace, George crossed to his younger brother. ''Hey Ron, have you seen Fred?''

''I saw him go up to the dormitory a little while ago. He looked a bit out of things, is he alright?''

''That's what I'm going to hopefully find out.'' George replied before heading up the stairs.

The fifth year boys' dormitory would have been empty if it was not for Fred being there. As soon as he saw his brother, George had to ask, ''What is it Fred?''

''What?'' Fred, who was sat in the middle of his bed writing on a piece of parchment which was certain to be a piece of last minute homework, looked up.

''It's not hard to notice; something's been up with you lately and we both know it has nothing to do with Angelina.''

Fred's expression went from confused to resigned as he put down his quill. ''George, honestly, I don't know what...''

''Are you in love with her?'' He had the question in his head but he had not wanted to ask in fear of the answer, however, his voice had betrayed him and Fred looked at him in shock.

He hadn't said her name, but the pained look as he asked had told Fred who the 'her' was that George was referring to. ''George, I have loved Luna since the day we met her, but I have never loved her in _that_ way.''

''Are you sure?''

''Yes,'' Fred said defiantly. ''I don't completely understand what I'm feeling right now, but understand enough to know that it's not _that_.''

''Obviously you are feeling something for her that you haven't felt before.''

''What does it matter!'' Fred snapped with frustration; not at George, but at his own confused emotions. ''Even if I do, George, can you imagine Luna even feeling something for me in even the slightest romantic way?''

''No, but I wouldn't have imagined you feeling anything either.''

''George, Luna loves you with every single fibre of that great big heart of hers.'' Fred spoke matter-of-factly. ''She has always been drawn towards you. You're the one that actually convinces me to do work so we'll both be back here the next year, I would just fail everything and get kicked out it you weren't here to give me the occasional kick up the backside; you're the sensible...well more sensible...one out of the two of us; you're the one who showed her interest and admiration while I was sat there teasing her about Nargles or Pygmy-Hornsnacks...or whatever she calls them...'' Fred waved his hand; the last part wasn't important.

George noted the strength and honesty in his voice. Fred had just said all the reasons why Luna would be in love with George and not him, and he had not sounded saddened in the slightest. ''And that doesn't bother you?''

Fred shook his head. George couldn't help but chuckle. ''Blimey, I can see why you have no idea how you're feeling. I'm confused and it's not even my feelings that are going bonkers.''

Fred chuckled. ''Tell me about it...I'm sorry George.''

''How about you save the apologies until you know what you're actually apologising for.''

''I just don't get it...I don't love Luna in that way, but I feel something when I'm around her.'' George tried to hide his unhappiness at what Fred had said, but he failed. ''Sorry, that's probably something you could do without hearing your brother say about your girlfriend.''

''It's alright,'' That was a lie and the truth at the same time. ''I mean, you're right; it's not something I really want to hear, but if it helps you figure out what you're feeling then it's best that you say it.''

''Bloody hell, you sound like Mum.'' Fred laughed.

''Yeah well, after about a hundred lectures from her I'm bound to pick some things up.''

The humour Fred had found in the situation evaporated as he thought back to the matter at hand and George watched as Fred thought to himself. ''Okay, so you aren't in love with her. Are you attracted to her?''

Fred thought for a moment. ''No...I mean, Luna's a good looking girl;she's attractive, but I'm not attracted to her.''

''Right,'' George was now completely confused as to what was going on inside his brother's head. ''So, what do you know you feel?''

Again, Fred took another couple of moments to ponder over the question before he answered. ''When I see you two together, and you're so obviously right for each other, I do feel jealous, and when Luna will only talk to you about something – like she did earlier – it does hurt me. And recently, I have found myself looking at Luna differently, and I have been wondering if it's how you felt all that time while you were in love with Luna before you got together.''

George's eyes widened as the metaphorical gears in his brain began to turn and helped him piece things together. ''Fred, by any chance, did these feelings start to develop after you and Angelina started having problems?''

''Yeah...George, what are you thinking?''

''Maybe, what you want isn't Luna, maybe it's what Luna and I have.'' Fred raised his eyebrows and waved his hand in a gesture to elaborate. George obliged, ''Okay Fred, you've told me you're not attracted to Luna, and that you're not in love with her, but you find yourself looking at Luna differently and you get jealous when Luna and I are together and when Luna will tell me things that she won't tell you...''

''You do realise that you sound like a bloody therapist now, but yes, carry on.''

''Fred, we always thought that once you and Angelina finally got together you would have the same thing with her that I have with Luna, and when you two did get together...''

''It wasn't all sunshine and pixie dust like we had thought.'' Fred finished for him. George nodded and Fred thought over what his highly-analytical brother had been saying. ''Maybe, when things didn't work out with Angelina, I started wanting a relationship like your and Luna's a lot more than I realised...so much that I started to be jealous of the relationship you and Luna have. I don't want to be with Luna, I want to have the relationship that you two have. With someone who's my best friend, not just my girlfriend.''

''Eureka!'' George threw his hands up in the air in a gesture of a cheer. ''We have successfully discovered what the bloody hell is going on inside of your head.''

Despite George's enthusiasm, Fred's smile was weak. ''Yeah, I suppose.''

George sighed and dropped his hands. ''Now what's wrong?''

''Well I know what my problem is, but I still don't have any flippin' clue about what I'm going to do about it.''

''Well, do you think you and Angelina could work well together, as a couple and as best friends?''

Fred thought over almost four years of friendship with Angelina, and a couple of those also included a pretty serious crush on her too, and the answer came to him, ''yes, I do.''

''Like you said, the beginning wasn't as great as it could have been. But maybe if you both actually spoke to each other, then things might work out and you may have with Angelina what I have with Luna.''

''Yeah, you're right. I'll talk to her first thing tomorrow.''

''You better or I'll lock the pair of you in the potions cupboard until you make up; I'm sure that will reopen some memories for the pair of you the number of times I've seen you sneak off into it.''

''Fair enough,'' Fred smirked. George, not ready to be going to bed, headed back for the common room. ''And I am sorry about all this George, now that I know what I'm saying sorry for.''

George turned back at the door. ''Don't worry about it. I just hope you and Angelina can work things out.'' Briefly, George disappeared through the door, only to appear again as a thought occurred to him. ''But Fred, if you ever do fall in love with my girlfriend, then I will be rigging your broomstick with flaming fireworks.''

**Next chapter; The school year comes to an end and while the school deals with the death of Cedric and the return of Voldemort, Harry gives Fred and George a gift that will certainly make a difference to their lives.**

**I know that things weren't as serious as they might have first appeared to be but I hope that you can understand why I couldn't make Fred actually be in love with Luna. For me, I just couldn't imagine him falling in love with someone who George loves so much. It's the same reason why I don't understand how on Earth JK Rowling could say that George ended up with Angelina. But that is my opinion and if you aren't happy with how this chapter went, than that is your own opinion and I respect that.**

**Hope everyone continues to enjoy. ****Sorry this chapter has more talking from me in it than the actual story.**


	22. The Brewing Storm

It was incredible how much one place could change over the events of a single night. One day Hogwarts had been filled with excitement and anticipation over the third and final event of the Tri-wizard tournament, by the next day, it was a place of mourning and tension. The school was divided. There were those who had been shaken to the core on hearing Harry announce that Voldemort had returned and that he had taken the life of Cedric Diggory in the process; these people either wanted desperately to return to their families, or simply tried to carry on as usual until the holidays finally arrived. The other half of the school didn't believe it through either denial or ignorance.

In the last few days, George had overheard many conversations in the school corridors that included students (almost always Slytherins) accusing Harry of making everything about Voldemort killing Cedric up, and each time he had had to restrain either himself and, on a couple of occasions, Fred from smacking them right then and there. George had grown up with stories of the first wizarding war from his parents, and while convincing himself that it was all untrue would have put much comfort on his mind, he knew that pretending that You-Know-Who wasn't back would only lead to much greater trouble later on.

After a long and quiet walk, George crossed the bridge and reached the stone circle. Luna, who was sat with her back resting against one of the large stones, gave him a warm smile as he walked over.

''Are you alright?''

Sitting in front of her, George put his knees up by his chest and his forearms rested on his knees, and he then gave a small chuckle. ''I'm not sure, but right now; I think that's the case for everyone.''

''True, but I'm afraid it will only get worse.'' Luna's voice was tinted with anxiety and her eyes drifted off; a sign to George that she was thinking deeply about something.

''What makes you say that?''

''Everyone's noticed the change in the school already; if someone's not afraid of the Dark Lord, then they are convinced that he's still dead, and that Harry has made the whole story up. But it will only get worse. My father has archives of Quibblers from just before the first wizarding war; there were many articles about the Ministry of Magic hiding the fact that wizards were being killed and that Death Eaters were being spotted all around the wizarding world...and I'm sure it will happen again. As students leave the school and claim to their parents that You-Know-Who has returned, the Ministry will immediately deny it to stop panic, and very soon everything Harry says will be denounced in the Daily Prophet, and when You-Know-Who does finally return, the darkness will be all the more terrible.''

''Darkness?''

''It's in the air.'' Luna closed her eyes and allowed the warm summer breeze to caress her face. ''And it's slowly getting closer.''

George didn't know what to say. He had come to love Luna's bizarre quirks, but a part of him wanted to tell Luna it was all in her head; the same part of him that shuddered at the thought of another wizarding war developing.

For a minute or two, George sat and watched Luna without saying anything, with the sound of approaching footsteps finally breaking the silence. ''Angelina said she had seen you come out here,'' Fred's voice caused George to look away from Luna, whose eyes had opened at the sound of Fred's arrival.

''I assume that means you two have made up then finally.''

''You assume correctly Miss Lovegood.''

''Finally, it only took you, how long?'' George asked with a grin.

''To be fair, certain events put my messed up relationship into perspective.'' Georg's grin disappeared. He had hoped that Fred's arrival would have brought the departure of the dark subject hanging in the back of everyone's mind. ''Since what happened in the maze task Angie and I have been just like we used to be and yesterday, we finally talked about _us_.''

''What happened?'' Luna's question was followed by a small rumble coming from her stomach.

''We decided to give it a bit of time for us to get use to the idea of being more than friends, and we agreed that if after a little while it didn't feel right then we would be friends and nothing more.''

''I'm glad you are both giving things a chance,'' Luna commented as she stood up. ''And I'm also very hungry so I'm going to get some food from the Great Hall.''

The smile George gave Luna as she skipped off back into the castle quickly dropped once she was gone and Fred sat in the spot Luna had occupied. ''Are you alright?''

George gave a humourless laugh. ''Obviously not, otherwise everyone wouldn't be asking me that question.''

''Hey I don't know if she's come up to you screaming with happiness yet and you already know, but Angelina's new Quidditch captain for Gryffindor.''

''I didn't know. That's great, hopefully she won't work us insanely like Wood did. Merlin I've missed Quidditch this year.''

''Yeah, it's bloody typical that the last year we don't have any major exams is the one year where we don't have Quidditch to focus on.''

George nodded in agreement. Fred then rested the back of his head against the large stone he was sat in front of. George rested his chin on his knees and wished for the final days of school to come to an end. For many minutes, the brothers sat in an unusual silence, with the sound of merry footsteps breaking them out of their quiet reserve.

''Fred, George,'' Luna reappeared from the entrance to the bridge with a half-eaten cupcake in her hand. ''Harry's looking for you. He asked if you could meet him in the Gryffindor common room.''

''It's probably about Quidditch,'' Fred assumed.

''Probably,'' George stretched his stiff legs as he stood and he and Fred started for the bridge. As he reached Luna, he put his arm around her waist and kissed her on the cheek as they followed Fred together. ''Do you know how much time you'll be able to come over this summer?''

Luna quickly swallowed the bite of cupcake she had just taken before replying, ''With what has happened, Dad's going to be spending almost everyday at the Quibbler so the chances are I'll be able to come over everyday; that is, if you can stand to have me around that much.''

''Luna, as a man who usually has to spend his entire holiday with his increasingly annoying siblings I can tell you that having you around everyday would be a breath of fresh air.''

* * *

With it being the middle of the afternoon, the Gryffindor common room was deserted as Fred and George walked in.

''Harry,'' Fred called to the vacant room. For a few moments there was no reply. Then the silence was met with the sound of footsteps descending the stairway from the dormitories.

''Hi guys,'' The distinct face of Harry Potter appeared at the bottom of the staircase.

''Everything alright?'' George asked as he perched himself on the arm of the sofa.

''Um yeah, I just wanted to ask you two something.'' Harry walked over and joined them at the seating area, but he did not sit.

''If it's about Quidditch then we don't really know much ourselves,'' Fred sat back in the armchair by the fireplace. ''most of it will be sorted at the start of next year.''

''No it's not about Quidditch.''

Both Fred and George suddenly found themselves oblivious as to any idea of what Harry wanted to talk to them about and George leant forward, resting his chin on his palm.

''I was wondering if you would like to have my winnings from the Tri-wizard tournament.'' The words that Harry uttered caused the hand underneath George's chin to jolt away and Fred shot forwards in his seat.

''Are you playing a joke on us Potter?'' Fred exclaimed.

''No. Honest.''

''Harry you do know that's a thousand galleons right.'' George was now standing up and his eyes were frozen wide with surprise.

''Yes,'' Harry couldn't help but let out a small laugh as he spoke; he had never seen the twins surprised before, and the longer he watched their identical expressions, the funnier their reactions seemed to be.

''Look it's not like we're ungrateful mate, but surely there's someone out there that deserves it more than us.''

''I went to Mr Diggory first with the money, but he and his family didn't want it. It's not as if I just picked your names out of a hat guys; I have thought about this.''

''But, why us?'' Fred asked.

''Because, I have never felt like I've had a family as much as I have done when I'm at the Burrow with you guys, Ron, Hermione and Ginny. And if there is anyone who I want to give this money to; then it's your family. But you two are going to be leaving next year and your business idea looks really great and I don't want you two to miss out on an amazing opportunity just because you don't have the money.'' Harry's voice told both Fred and George that he was sure of what he was saying. ''So if you want it; you can have it.''

* * *

Luna came out of the Ravenclaw common room to an apparently empty corridor. But after a couple of moments of looking around, she stopped suddenly. ''George Weasley, if you think you can sneak up on me then you are mistaken.''

Turning around, Luna heard a small mutter of 'how does she do that' followed by George emerging from the shadows of the corridor. Before she could ask him anything, George had swept her up into a hug and began spinning her around.

''George, did you send a first year into the common room to find me just so I would come out here so that you could hug me?'' Luna queried as George put her feet back on the ground, but he continued to keep his arms around her waist.

''No. I just wanted to see you.'' He then slowly began to brush the back of his fingers along her cheeks, causing her to close her eyes and he swore he heard her breath hitch.

''W-w-why the sudden need to see me? What did Harry want?''

''I'll explain later.'' Luna slowly opened her eyes to see the biggest grin on George's face that she had possibly ever seen.

''I'm guessing that it was good news. You are looking much happier than you did earlier.''

''Yeah, well I realised that it's not all darkness and misery to come. In fact, the future is looking pretty great right now.''

**Next chapter: George finds his only solitude with Luna as a rift begins to tear apart the Weasley family.**

**So finally we have reached the end of the GOF, now onwards to the Order of the Phoenix. A massive thank you to each and every person who has read through to this far, alerted, favourited or reviewed. **


	23. Escape

**I'm so sorry it's taken so long but I've had exams and I've been on holiday. But as of today my exams are over (woohoo) and I'm finally here to start the Order of the Phoenix part of this story. Because of the long wait, there some light-hearted fun at the end of this chapter. Thanks for bearing with me.**

**I don't own Harry Potter - I'll just cry about that while you guys read...**

''He's our son Arthur!''

''No son of mine would ever treat you and myself the way he has done Molly. Son or no son, I will never forgive him for what he has done.''

''But Arthur...''

''Here they go again.'' Ron sighed from one of the upstairs bedrooms in number twelve, Grimmauld Place.

''Yeah, we don't really need these to know what they're talking about.'' Fred held up a pair of Extendable Ears and then dropped them down on to the rug he was sat on by the wall.

''We could go out somewhere,'' Ginny suggested from her seat on one of the beds. ''They probably will be arguing for so long that they won't notice that we're gone.''

''There's nowhere to go,'' Ron complained. ''I wish Harry was here.''

''We can't tell him about the Order Ron,'' Hermione looked at him intently over the book she had had her nose in for the last half an hour.

''I know but at least he isn't anti-social like some people who just read twenty four hours a day,'' He snapped back. ''I mean at least if we were in the Burrow we could go out and play Quidditch.''

''There's no reason why we can't go.'' George commented from his seat at the windowsill.

''Yeah well it's alright for us to say that when we can be home in two seconds. The _children_ over there will have to walk all the way back to Ottery St Catchpole.'' Fred laughed.

As the conversation died, the sound of the Weasley parents practically screaming at each other could have made the walls shake. Most of what they were saying was barely audible but the name Percy could be heard every few seconds from either Arthur's enraged yells or Molly's hysterical cries.

''I can't take this anymore,'' Ginny jumped up from her seat and marched to the door. ''I need to get out of this place. Hermione, do you want to go shopping? There's a muggle shopping street just three roads away.''

Hermione closed her book and followed Ginny, leaving the boys and the sound of Lupin and Sirius trying to get their parents to calm down.

''I'm going to go see Luna,'' George announced, immediately disapparating before Fred or Ron could say anything.

''He sees Luna more than he sees us,'' Ron commented.

''Yeah well, right now, I think being with Luna is the perfect escape for him. Things aren't as simple as they were Ron.'' Fred's eyes were distant as he spoke and Ron heard a seriousness in his voice that wasn't common in that of a Weasley twin.

''I guess things really are changing.''

* * *

George squinted as the dark room of Grimmauld Place was replaced with the large orb of light that was the sun. Sighing, he realised he had apparated too far and was in the field between Luna's home and the Burrow, rather than Luna's doorstep - which was where he intended to go.

''Well, at least I'm still intact - eyes, nose, fingernails - yep all here, I'm fine.'' George commented as he looked over his shoulder at his family home. Seeing the Burrow told George why he had ended up in between Luna's house and his own; he had intended to be with Luna, but a part of him just wanted to be back at the Burrow, like the previous summer.

Quidditch games in the Burrow and evenings walking with Luna in the fields seemed so much further away than just a year and a large part of George ached to have that back. Even having Percy be a miserable sod, hiding out in his room for the whole of the summer was better than what was happening now with his family.

Rather than apparate again, George simply walked his way towards Luna's house, and she had clearly seen him coming as she was perched on her doorstep with two mugs of tea sat beside her.

''Hey,''

Luna offered him a warm smile as she held out a mug for him to take. ''You've had that same look on your face everytime you've arrived here for the last few weeks.''

George sat down beside her on the doorstep as she sipped from her mug and looked at her, puzzled. ''What look?''

''A very sad one that doesn't suit you in the slightest. I wish I could make it go away.''

''You do,'' Their eyes connected and George squeezed the hand that she wasn't using to hold her drink. ''I can't image how crazy I would have gone if I hadn't got you.''

''But it's still in your eyes,'' Luna brushed a thumb along the skin under his left eye and smiled sadly. ''It's in your eyes all of the time and I cannot make it go away.''

George pondered on this for a moment. ''Once summer is over things will be better, just as long as I don't have to listen to anyone in my family argue anymore.''

''Your parents aren't that bad are they?''

''It's not just Mum and Dad. The other day Ron and Bill started getting into an argument over everything as well, which then caused Mum and Dad to have another go.''

''What about Fred?''

''He would happily apparate into the Ministry of Magic and knock Percy's lights out right now if he knew it wouldn't upset Mum...so would I come to think of it. But we're both keeping out of it as much as we can. If anything starts we just leave.''

''Well you are always welcome here - all day everyday. But if you come at night please apparate to the front door and not into my bedroom. My father is a good man but if he caught you in my room then he would certainly jinx you.''

For the first time in what felt like forever, George laughed. ''Yeah and then he'd tell my mum, and then I'd probably be dead.''

For a small while, the couple sat in peaceful silence with the only noise being them sipping their drinks. Once he had finished he noted the absence of noise coming from the house. ''Is your dad working on _The Quibbler_ again?''

''Yes,'' A hint of sadness ebbed its way into her voice. ''Of course he is.''

''Are things still bad?'' Luna had informed George of the stresses her father was facing as a publisher now few people believed anything that wasn't written in the_ Daily Prophet_.

''They're getting worse. I've not had a proper conversation with him in over a week.''

The swirling summer breeze blew around George and Luna as the hazing sun casted shadows from the house. George's concentrating eyes sought anything that could lighten up the mood. Luna, so lost in her thoughts, almost recoiled in fright as George's hand suddenly went to pull her up.

''What are you doing?''

''We're going inside,'' George pulled Luna up so that she was back on her feet and then gestured his head towards the inside of her house.

Luna looked up at him suspiciously. ''I know that we have an entire empty house here George but is kissing me the only thing that is ever on your mind.'' She added a bright smile to show that she was teasing.

''I may be a bloke but I was actually thinking of something else.'' With a tug on her hand George pulled Luna into the main room of her house. He turned back to her with a grin. ''But we can always do the thing you mentioned later.'' He winked and then began pacing around the room.

''What are we doing?''

''Playing a game Miss Lovegood.'' George spoke matter-of-factly and turned around, holding his arms wide in a grand gesture. Luna laughed as George ran across the room and jumped up onto one of the chairs before addressing her again. ''Do you remember the first time you were left home alone without a parent? For me, it was as if Christmas had come early. A big, big house without my big, mean Mum there to say 'no George stay away from there' or 'George you can't look in there it isn't for you'. You see, Fred and I started this game where basically everytime Mum left us alone in the house we would raid every cupboard in the Burrow and would compete to see who found the best thing...admittedly there were a couple of things we found that we would've rather not known about...but still it was fun.''

Luna looked lovingly as the man she adored spoke with such a childlike twinkle in his brown eyes – completely absent of the sadness they had held when he had arrived. As he used the height boost he gained from the chair to reach a set of cardboard boxes sat on the top of the room's tall bookshelf, he began routing through boxes with a huge grin plastered across his face.

''Excuse me, George maybe I don't want you going through the stuff in my living room,'' Luna moved to stand by the chair George was stood on and put on a disapproving look that broke away as soon as George jumped down from the chair and looked at her with his eyes only an inch from hers.

A small smile was still evident on his face as he spoke, ''Fine then,'' Without warning he darted to the left and ran through the doorway leaving a perplexed Luna behind. The sound of running footsteps hitting the staircase echoed through the room and finally George continued, ''I'll see what's in your room instead!''

Instantly, Luna was running after him up the stairs. By the time she reached her bedroom doorway George was already reaching up for the boxes on top of her wardrobe, which her father had put up there as she knew she would never reach high enough to put them up there herself.

''George Weasley get away from my things,'' When he showed no signs of listening, Luna ran and jumped on his back, causing him to stagger backwards slightly, but he retained his balance so that he didn't end up toppling over.

Luna wrapped her legs around his waist and her arms around his neck and George peered at her from over his shoulder. ''Well you're just no fun Luna.''

''Well, maybe I would like to play another game.'' George felt soft kisses on the back of his neck and smiled.

''Alright, I think I like your game better anyway.''

**Updates will be faster as I get used to writing again without having stupid studying getting in the way. **

**All reviews are appreciated and will get faster updates so please let me know what you think.**

**Thanks for reading. x**


	24. A Day at Grimmauld Place

**I am sorry for the wait. I'm sure you're just as irritated with reading that as I am of writing it because it is becoming a bad habit. Basically, I get my first year of A-level exams out of the way and immediately I am being bombarded with information on going to university, work and all that other scary stuff that I really don't want to think about. But enough about my issues, this chapter is one, if not the, longest chapter I have written for any story so that may make up at teeny-tiny bit for the wait. I just kept going and going while writing this one.**

**I don't own Harry Potter...damn it.**

''Oh it's so nice to have you here Luna,'' Molly pulled Luna into a hug upon seeing her enter the kitchen of Grimmauld Place.

''Mum I would appreciate it if you didn't suffocate my girlfriend,'' George was directly behind Luna, having apparated with her to the Black family home.

''Oh be quiet,'' Molly released Luna and gave her a warm motherly smile. ''Now Luna, the boys have got chores to do-'' for a moment she peered over Luna's shoulder at George, ''- and don't think you've gotten out of doing so by inviting Luna over -'' She then addressed Luna again. ''But you are a guest Luna so don't feel as though you need to help them.''

''I don't mind helping,'' Luna said honestly. For the last few weeks, apart from the times when George, and sometimes Fred also, came over, she had pretty much been alone. With her father working almost twenty-four/seven at The Quibbler Luna had almost forgotten what it was like to be a part of a family dynamic and so had been very happy when George had invited her to spend the day at Grimmauld Place. Initially he had been worried that she wouldn't be allowed to come over because of the Order's meetings and so he had waited for a while before asking. As it turned out, it was completely fine; 'of course she can come, she's practically a part of the family and I have worried about her being alone in that house...' had been how his mother had responded.

''Ahh, I see our guest has arrived,'' Sirius Black gave Luna welcoming smile as he entered the room.

''You have a lovely home Mr Black,''

''Oh well that's gracious of you to say but I must admit it has looked much better in the past, and please, call me Sirius. Now feel free to make yourself at home, I'm sure George will show you around and if you need anything then please just ask.''

''Thank you,''

''It is not a problem. I did not miss the fact that in amongst the media that depicted me as a mass murderer, your father's paper was not amongst it.''

''My father had to keep it subtle of course,'' Luna recalled the trouble her father had gone to in order to conform with the general idea that Sirius was a murdered, while also subliminally getting across the message of how he, quite rightly, believed Sirius was an innocent man. ''But he made sure his true beliefs were enveloped into the articles.''

''And I am eternally grateful to him for it so I will do my best to be as welcoming as a host can be for his daughter.'' With one final smile, Sirius left. George informed her that he needed to be upstairs with Fred to clear out the Doxies on the second floor. As they entered the hallway they met Fred at the bottom of the staircase. In his hands were numerous empty bottles and by the sheepish look on his face, Luna guessed that he wasn't supposed to have them.

''What are those bottles for Fred?''

''You'll find out in a minute,'' He replied as he began to briskly run up the stairs.

Luna turned to George for an answer. ''You heard him, come on,'' George ushered her upstairs. Carrying an armful of bottles while running up the long stairways quickly tired Fred out and by the time George and Luna were ascending the stairway to the second floor they had already caught up with him.

Just as they reached the second floor landing, Luna heard quiet mutters coming from a dark corner.

''Filthy blood traitors in my mistress's home...unwelcome here...'' The mutters got louder as they walked closer to the corner where the voice was coming from. ''...the noble house of Black infiltrated with scum bringing other blood traitors to taint the air more...''

''Shut up!'' George abruptly yelled at the direction at the voice causing Luna to jump almost a foot into the air. There was silence from the corner. ''Yeah you better stay quiet.''

''One more word Kreacher and I swear to Merlin I will apparate you off the edge of a cliff,'' Fred warned the thing within the shadows before entering the nearby room.

Once the door was closed behind them, Luna asked, ''What was that?''

''Kreacher,'' Fred replied, his distain for the aforementioned apparent in his tone.

''He's the Black's house elf,'' George explained to her while Fred appeared to be setting something up with the empty bottles he had been carrying and somethings he pulled out of one of the cupboards. George continued, ''the little scumbag was taught by Sirius' mother that pure-blood wizards are the high and mighty of the wizarding world. Anyone who's not pure-blood gets some sort of abuse thrown at them by him – the things he says to Hermione are the worst. Fred, Ron and I nearly strangled him to death at one point.''

''Why was he in the shadows?''

''Count yourself lucky Luna, you wouldn't want to see the ugly sod anyways,'' Fred walked back over to her and George, leaving a confused Luna to eye up the equipment Fred had set up. ''I see you like my Doxy trap.''

Luna's confusion only grew so she turned to George for help.

''Okay, you can't tell my mum about this because she'll go mental, but Fred and I are collecting Doxy venom.''

''Why?''

''Because,'' Fred took over the explanation, ''we're using it in our skiving Snackboxes.''

Luna opened her mouth to ask yet another question but forgot what she was going to ask as she was distracted by the door to the room opening. Bill Weasley peered into the room and raised a suspicious eyebrow at the trio.

''What are you three doing in here?''

''Doxy hunting,'' Fred put on the most unenthusiastic voice he could. ''We've got to kill off another infestation.''

''Oh fun,'' Bill deadpanned. ''Just don't let them bite you. Trust me.''

''So Bill how are your _'language' _lessons with Fleur going?'' George brought up the random subject from nowhere, but judging from the grin on his face, that had been the intention as Bill's ears went red and Fred began to laugh.

''Language lessons?'' Luna was beginning to get irritated by her apparent level of ignorance with everything.

''Yeah, out of the pure goodness of his heart Bill is giving Fleur some help with her English.'' The grin never left George's face and Bill looked ready to slap it off at any moment.

''Luna, I'm glad to see hanging around these two hasn't affected you any,'' Bill decided to ignore his two younger brothers. ''But maybe you should get away while you still can before they begin to influence you.''

Bill quickly left and Fred was finally able to continue on the Doxy subject. He explained to Luna how to collect the Doxy venom without getting bitten in the process and soon the trio were filling the empty glass bottles with the extracted venom. George had nearly eight encounters of being bitten, making him more and more frustrated by the minute. After ten minutes he was practically punching the tiny creatures out of his way.

''Bloody hell George, if you keep pissing them off you're going to have them all coming after you at once,'' Fred suppressed the laugh that emerged at the sight of his red-faced twin slapping away a small group of Doxies.

''I think you'll find they're the ones pissing _me_ off,'' George lobbed a bottle of Doxyside straight at a small group of the fairy-like creatures, ridding around half of them.

''I think we've got plenty of venom to last us a while,'' Fred noted the numerous filled bottles on the table beside him. He turned back in time to see George hurl yet another bottle of Doxyside across the room. ''Just as well, since you're going to kill them all.''

Luna appeared beside Fred, her eyes still on George. ''The way he's throwing those bottles he may end up killing himself as well.''

Thirty minutes and twenty bottles of Doxyside later, the trio were in Fred and George's room with Luna watching as Fred stashed away the bottles of Doxy venom under his bed. George was sat on his own bed, having exhausted himself with his tirade against the Doxies.

''I'd say we might even have enough to take to Hogwarts with us,'' Fred commented. Satisfied that the supply was sufficiently hidden, Fred sat down on his own bed.

''So you are coming back this year.'' Both George and Fred looked towards Luna with guilty looks on their faces, especially the former. George had never really talked to her about his and Fred's plans for the coming year. Luna had always thought it possible that both would have tired of education before their NEWTs were completed, and when she found out about Harry giving them the Tri-wizard prize money she had been almost certain that wouldn't be going back to Hogwarts. Facts that hadn't crossed George's mind throughout the summer.

''Yes we are. Did you really think we'd leave you to have a boring final year?'' The small smile on Luna's face was a mask for the barrel of relief that ran over her as Fred confirmed what she had wanted to know for almost a month.

''Well if anyone was going to leave school early then it was always going to be you two, and with Harry giving you that money...I just couldn't be sure.''

When they made eye contact, George offered her an apologetic smile, sorry for the fact that he hadn't thought to let her be in-the-know earlier.

''Well we did consider it, but not for long. We knew leaving early would upset Mum and she definitely doesn't want to be dealing with that along with all this stuff with Percy, it would probably give her a heart attack.''

''Yeah, and also, with us going back to Hogwarts, we'll be able to do some tests with our target consumers,'' George added. ''We'll be able to see what's popular and how well things work.''

''Oh yeah. We really are going to need to do some tests on some things first.'' Fred seemed to think for a moment before looking up and giving Luna one of those 'I'm going to pretend to be very sweet and lovely and then ask you something' looks. ''Hey Luna, do you fancy trying one of our Nosebleed Nougats–'' George had immediately stood up and before Fred could continue, he was whacked around the arm by his younger twin. ''Oww, what was that for?''

''We are not trying anything on Luna,'' George stood defiantly with his arms folded. ''We don't know what the side-effects could be.''

''Well guessing by the name I would suppose the side-effects would be nosebleeds.'' Luna reasoned.

''That's the intended side-effect, but we can't be sure.'' George inwardly cringed at the idea of what could happen to Luna if she tried one of the sweets which then caused her to be seriously ill.

''Fine, but we're going to need to try it on someone.'' Fred looked as though he was expecting a name from George.

''Look it can be anyone apart from Luna, Mum and Dad - apart from that it can be anyone; although personally I would pick Ron.''

''Brilliant, Ron it is.'' Fred got up and walked past Luna towards the door.

''Where are you going?''

''I'm going to go bribe Ron into trying out the sweets,''

''Do you really think he will try those things you've made?'' Luna personally doubted it.

''For a couple of galleons he probably will.'' Convinced he could ring his brother in as a lab rat, Fred left the room and began looking for Ron.

''I'm sorry I didn't say anything about school before,'' The subject had been playing on George's mind and the statement came out of his mouth without him barely realising. Luna, who was still facing in the direction Fred had left in, turned to him with a melancholy smile on her face.

''It's alright. It's our last year anyway – things are going to change; it'll just be later rather than sooner this way.'' Her eyes were lost in a distant look that went well with the pondering and slightly wistful tone to her voice. George found himself instinctively crossing over to her and he pulled her into his arms.

''Some things won't change.'' He tilted her chin up so that she was making eye contact with him and not burying her face in his shirt.

''There are some things that are out of our control,''

''And there are some things that I won't ever allow to change,'' Tilting his head down, George kissed her softly on the lips.

The swift swinging of the door sent George jumping away from her in shock. The sheepish-looking pair both stood staring at Molly Weasley, who was stood in the doorway wearing an expression that suggested that she expected to find them up to something a lot more intimate than a small kiss.

''Everything alright Mum?'' George asked casually.

''Yes dear,'' Molly continued to eye them suspiciously but seemed to be happy that they weren't up to anything. ''I just came to say dinner's almost ready.''

''Okay,'' George started for the door but both he and Molly paused and turned back around when they didn't hear Luna follow. ''Luna, aren't you coming?''

''Actually I should head home. If Dad manages to get away from the office then he'll be worried if I'm not there.''

''Are you sure dear?''

''Yes Mrs Weasley I am,''

''Well...alright...'' Molly knew clearly something was wrong. Quickly, when Luna wasn't looking, she nudged George as a prod for him to find out what was wrong.

As his mother walked out George turned back to face Luna, only to see her disapparate.

* * *

The surroundings of Grimmauld Place transformed into the Luna's bedroom and she found herself, once again, alone in her own home. She wasn't alone for long. The sound of George apparating in behind her quickly followed.

''What was that about?''

''George please...not now.''

George thought about all of the times he had seen Luna throughout the holidays. If things began with her being quiet and unlike herself then she would, at some point, suddenly change around and be her usual lively self again, on the other hand, if she was acting like her usual self when he first saw her then throughout the duration of their time together she would suddenly become down and would use some excuse to get away from him like 'I think I may just need some rest, I'll go to bed' or 'I'm going to go take some things for Dad'. He had tried to ignore it, assuming that it was just her father's absence that was bothering her. It was clear to him that that was definitely not the case.

''No Luna. I've left it for weeks now. One minute your typical Luna; happy and weird in your wonderfully brilliant own way, then the next minute it's as thought someone has died you look so miserable. And today has been a prime example.''

Luna finally turned to face him, a wounded look on her face. ''Miserable? Well it's not hard to be miserable when that's all you've got to say to me.''

''Oh come on Luna don't turn this around on me. All I'm trying to do is find out what's bothering you because I'm getting seriously worried. What have I done wrong?'' His voice unintentionally got louder and faster as he spoke and Luna was taken aback.

''I'm sorry...I...'' As Luna struggled to think of what to say, George ran a stressed hand through his hair and regretted the tone he had taken. ''...I'm just...scared.''

George's hands dropped down from his hair in surprise at an answer he hadn't predicted. ''What do you mean?''

''In a years time we'll have finished at Hogwarts, you and Fred will be starting your own business while I have no idea what I'm going to do, I haven't seen my father in almost two weeks since he basically lives in his office now and maybe none of it will matter because You-Know-Who is back and I hate to imagine what damage he is going to cause since everyone is to afraid to accept that he is back.''

George had to wait a moment for everything Luna had just said to sink in. She had spoken in only one breath and had reached a rambling, almost hysterical, tone. Luna's eye line stayed firmly at one of the sections of the carpet while George took a couple of steps closer to her. ''How long has all of this been on your mind?''

''I...I don't...'' Luna let out an exasperated sigh and suddenly she felt herself being pulled into George's embrace. For several minutes they both simply stood there with Luna resting her head against George's chest.

The sound of George's soft voice in her ear sent small shivers down her spine, ''Luna you know that a business won't mean anything to me without you.''

Luna's breath got caught in her throat and a whole spectrum of emotions passed over her. When the moment had passed, there was only one emotion left. Luna brought George's head down so that she could easily reach her lips to his. Her hands went roaming through his hair while a surprised George put one hand on the small of her back to draw her as close to him as possible while the back of his other hand brushed down from her cheek to her neck.

George felt Luna pull away from the bliss he had just been feeling, but while she ended the kiss, she did not move away from him. She kept her lips as close to his as possible without actually touching them. ''George will you stay here for a while?''

''Of course I will, if Mum asks where I was I'll just say I wasn't sure where you were so I spent the first half an hour-''

''Alright George I don't need to know the enite excuse,'' Luna didn't mean to interrupt, but she wanted to get to her point while she still held the courage to bring it up.

''Well what do you want to do then?'' His trademark cheeky grin appeared on his face and Luna forced herself to resist kissing him there and then. ''And let it be noted that I'm not against what we were just doing.''

''Actually I was thinking of something more,''

Luna bit her lip nervously as George began to work out what she meant. Then it clicked. When he looked into her eyes, he saw nerves, but he did not see any doubt. ''Are you sure?''

''Yes,''

''Are you ready?''

''Are you?

''Of course I am,'' George cupped Luna's face in his hands. ''But I need to be sure that you are.''

Luna did not give him an answer, instead, she pulled him back into a kiss – a kiss so passionate, strong and loving that it gave George the knowledge that she was in fact ready.

''I love you so much,'' His lips brushed against hers as he spoke and for the second time in a matter of minutes, Luna found that her breath was hitched. Once she was able to form a sentence again she whispered back, ''I love you too - more than anything else.''

**Okay so that's where it ends I'm afraid. I'm not even a little bit happy with the ending to this but there's a reason why this is a T rated story - because if I tried to go into details and make it M rated then it would just be rubbish and I'd rather just imply what's going to finally happen between them than actually write what happens and do it badly.**

**But what I think doesn't matter, please leave a review and let me know what you think, whether it's to say you enjoyed the chapter or a telling off for the crap ending. Again sorry about that but I really couldn't think what to do.**

**Thanks for reading, and an extra thank you for sticking with me during the long waits. **

**Lisa x**


	25. Unwelcome Change

**I had a massive load of end of year work to do so I suddenly had no free time to write, but hurray because it's the summer holidays now and I've got six weeks of freedom, which I will use to get my stories going again. **

**I take no shame in saying that I cried my eyes out at Deathly Hallows Part 2, but I do sadly have to say that I don't own Harry Potter.**

''You should see the way she looks at him – it's sickening!'' George complained to Lee over the feast.

''Me and George are basically irrelevant in everything now,'' Fred added, speaking up over the hall full of students catching up on what they had been doing in the holidays. ''It's like we don't bloody exist.''

''Is she really that bad?'' Lee asked.

''Oh I don't know Lee, would you consider this bad...'' George cleared his throat and prepared to do his best impression of his mother when Luna, who was sat directly behind them on the Ravenclaw table, interrupted,

''Please don't start this again,'' The three Gryffindors turned to face her while she sat sideways on her bench in order to easily speak with them. ''You've done nothing but talk about this for the last week.''

Lee laughed at the slightly sheepish look that crossed George's face when his girlfriend told him off before biting into a chicken drumstick, listening in as George began to protest, ''It's not our fault she goes on and on about it. I swear to Merlin I'm making sure I've moved out before it comes to the time where Ginny could be made a prefect.''

''I wouldn't be bothered if it was Ginny,'' Fred spoke through a mouthful of mashed potato. ''But Ron. I mean even he didn't expect to get it-''

''If I didn't know better I would say that you two were jealous.'' Luna commented as she loked down to read the edition of the Quibbler that was open on her lap. In her peripheral vision she could see them both look at her with the same 'you have got to be kidding me' expression on their faces.

''And why on earth would you think that?''

''Because George, you are making an awfully big fuss over something that had little to do with you.'' She countered, looking up and staring right into his questioning light brown eyes.

''It won't have little to do with me if I get into trouble and end up getting told off by my own bloody brother. I think a part of me would actually die inside if that happened.''

''Hey,'' Ron, who was sat with Harry and Hermione several people down from his brothers, had heard much of their conversation and wasn't sure whether he wanted to knock them both out or throw his prefect badge down of the floor and stomp on it.

''I'm sorry, were we speaking too loudly Mr Prefect?'' Fred laughed as his brother's face went a deep shade of red.

''I'm going to kill you,''

''Now, now, Ron, that's not the sort of example you should be setting to those little iddy-biddy first years.'' Ron's irritated face made George laugh even more than he already was.

''Bugger off,'' The twins laughed at Ron's rather lame retort before they were led on to the subject of their business plans by Lee.

''...Well we're going to start as soon as possible – maybe even later today, in the evening when everyone's in the common room.'' Fred said.

''And we're thinking of starting during lunchtimes as well.'' George picked up a questionable looking piece of ham before putting it down again and going for the ice cream instead.

''What, you're going to go round the school every lunchtime trying to sell stuff?'' Lee asked disbelievingly.

''Maybe not every-''

''It won't be every lunchtime.'' From Fred's left, Angelina cut in, a stern look on her face. ''We're going to be spending near enough every lunchtime this week getting the new team sorted, and then we'll be having practice as often as possible. We've had a whole year off and I want to know the team's ready. Come to think of it, I'm going to go sort out the notice board in the common room. The sooner we get the applicants for the vacant spaces on the team the better.''

Both Fred and George watched with astounded expressions on their faces as Angelina rushed out of the Great Hall.

''Merlin's arse Fred, she's going to be worse than Wood was fifth year!''

''Practice every day!'' Fred repeated Angelina as if he hadn't believed what he had heard. ''We won't have a complete team by tomorrow lunchtime so what's the point in practicing yet.''

''This is going to be a nightmare.''

* * *

''This is going to be a nightmare.'' George said for the second time within around fifteen hours as he and Luna made their way to their first lesson of the year, double Defence Against the Dark Arts. He knew there was something not right that new teacher Umbridge the moment he had seen her, and after what had happened with the previous four DADA teachers, he couldn't help but believe that his concern about her was justified.

''It might not be so bad,'' Luna commented in her usual chirpy voice, despite it being a dull Monday morning.

''I just know she's going to be a pain in the arse. I was talking to Ron in the common room and Umbridge was apparently at Harry's hearing – meaning she works for the Ministry.''

''That's odd. Why would a member of the Ministry take up a job at a school?''

George shrugged his shoulders and stopped as he reached the large door of the Defence Against the Dark Arts room, holding it open for Luna. They were near enough right on time and most of their classmates were already there, sitting on desks and chatting about this and that. On the left hand row, about half way down, Fred and Angelina sat at a desk together while Lee sat of the desk behind them next to one of his friends from Hufflepuff. Behind Lee the second desk from the back was empty and George and Luna took it as theirs.

Within moments of them sitting down a pathetically forced cough was heard through the room and everyone stopped talking, turning to see their new teacher stood at the front of the room. People sitting on desks quickly jumped down onto their proper seats while a few latecomers rushed to any empty desk they could find once they spotted Umbridge staring towards them.

''Welcome seventh years,'' Just the sound of her voice made George cringe, he knew he wasn't going to get along with this woman. ''I feel privileged to be here as this is indeed the most important year of your education, possibly of your lives...'' Umbridge continued with the traditional introduction and by the time she had finished half of the room had almost fallen asleep. They were quickly woken up again as Umbridge began to walk down the rows, floating books landing on the desks as she passed them. ''This material alone will be enough for you to pass your Defence Against the Dark Arts NEWT with ease.''

''What? So this book tells us how to cast every spell we need to know this year?'' A male Ravenclaw student asked as he flipped through the book that had just floated onto his desk, searching for anything on the practical side of the lesson.

Umbridge looked at him with such surprise that it was as though he had asked her if they could just not show up to lessons anymore. ''Now, why would you possibly want to know how to cast spells?''

''Errr because this is _Defence_ Against the Dark Arts, and we need to know how to use spells that we can use to _defend_ ourselves with.'' George said matter-of-factly and several other students around the room nodded or quietly muttered between themselves.

Umbridge looked directly at George with a blank face, but in her eyes George could see she was furious. ''And what would you need to defend yourself against?''

''Hasn't she ever heard of You-Know-Who?'' Someone in the room whispered just loud enough for Umbridge to hear. Standing at the front of the room, she pretended to not have heard anything and gave a painfully forced smile, ''now everyone get out your quills and write out notes on the first two chapters. Anything not finished in class must be completed by our next lesson.''

Ninety minutes, and four sheets of parchment later, Umbridge finally dismissed the class. George breathed a sigh of relief and he tried to shake off the cramp in his hand from writing so much, only to see Umbridge looking directly at him when he looked up. ''Can I have a word please?''

He and Luna shared a look before she quietly told him that she would wait for him outside and then made her way out of the room. Reluctantly, George walked to the front of the room trying to hide the grimace that desperately wanted to cross his face as he walked up to the toad-faced woman.

''It's Mr Weasley, isn't it?''

''Yes Professor,'' Umbridge briefly looked down at the sheet of parchment with the student list written down it.

''Fred Weasley?''

''No, George.''

Umbridge narrowed her eyes at him and George found an interesting part of his shoelace to stare at.

''Interesting...I'll have to find a way to keep an eye on which one of you is which.'' For a moment she was silent, as if she had stopped to think about something. ''I just wanted to say Mr Weasley that it would be greatly appreciated if you kept your views on matters to yourself. I am the teacher, you are merely a student.'' George had to bite his tongue to stop himself from yelling at her there and then. ''You may leave.''

George wasted no time in rushing for the door, only for Umbridge's voice to stop him again, ''Weasley...Weasley...'' She muttered faintly under her breath, as if it was familiar to her and she was trying to place where she knew it from. 'You're brother works for the Minister does he not?''

''Yes,'' George replied through gritted teeth. He had lost any liking for being associated with Percy the day his so-called older brother walked out on his family.

''Hhhmmm, I remember finding it very impressive that he should be working with the Minister so shortly after leaving Hogwarts. I suggest, Mr Weasley, that you take on a similar attitude to what he had, that way you may end up just like him.'' She wore a sickening smile that made George's blood boil. Not hiding the hatred in his eyes, George glared at her briefly before storming out of the room.

Luna and Fred had been waiting for George outside in the corridor when the large wooden door to the classroom was nearly swung off its hinges from the inside. With a face of fury, George stormed out of the room and down the corridor. He threw the door back with such force that the bang echoed down the corridor like a gunshot. George had moved so fast that Luna was certain that he had forgotten that she was waiting for him. She was about to call after him when she felt Fred's hand on her shoulder.

''What do you think happened?'' Luna asked quietly, knowing that she should leave George alone for the moment.

''I don't know,'' She could hear the edge in Fred's voice as he watched his brother disappear down the next corridor.

''George said that this lesson was going to be a nightmare.''

''It's her that's the nightmare.'' Fred stated.

Luna sighed as she considered what could have possibly been said to get George so angry. ''I hope he's alright?''

''He will be.'' Fred thought for a moment about the lesson they had just had and then picked up his books from where he had put them down on the floor, preparing to head for his next lesson. ''I have a feeling that this is going to be a very interesting year.''

**I've kind of seperated this chapter into two so that it isn't rediculously long. Hopefully I will have the next chapter up very soon, but I do have another Harry Potter story to be writing and a Smallville story that I am seriously struggling to write at the moment so I'll be as fast as I can. Big thank yous and virtual hugs to speedmonkey who has been a constant reviewer to my stories, ctc for reviewing the last chapter and spwarkle for giving me such a great review.**

**All reviews (as long as they are not flames) are hugely appreciated and are a great motivation to write. Thanks to everyone who is still reading this story and I hope you all enjoy.**

**Lisa x**


	26. Lunchtime at Hogwarts

By mid-lunchtime Luna hadn't seen George since the incident at the end of Defence Against the Dark Arts and she seriously hoped he was in a better mood than he had been then. Luna had used the double study period she had after Defence Against the Dark Arts to go to the library and finish up the notes for Professor Umbridge that she hadn't finished in the lesson that morning. Since he had stormed off, she hadn't seen George to know where he was. Then at the start of lunch she had bumped into Angelina, only to be reminded that George and the rest of the Gryffindor Quidditch team were going to be spending most of lunch practicing.

Luna had finished eating and was reading the edition of the Quibbler that her owl had delivered to her that morning when Fred appeared in the Great Hall looking exhausted and irritated as he walked over to her and almost collapsed onto the bench seat.

''I see practice was fun.'' She deadpanned.

''We didn't even practice,'' Luna managed to decipher what he had said through the roll of bread he had shoved into his mouth. He chewed away most of the mouthful before continuing, ''Angelina only wanted to try out new applicants and so far we've only got five. People have got more important things to worry about on the first few days back than signing up for Quidditch – but don't ever tell Angelina I said that. Anyways, we just spent twenty minutes watching five not-so-talented third years almost knock themselves out with a quaffle. Thank Merlin we didn't use the bludgers as well, I think someone would have died.''

''Are you going again tomorrow lunchtime?''

''As far as Angelina's concerned, yes. But, I'm actually hoping for Snape to give us Potions homework tomorrow morning so I have an good excuse to drop out for the day.''

''You really must not want to go to Quidditch.''

''I know, I never thought I'd see the day where I would actually look forward to homework from Snape.'' Luna chuckled while Fred went for more food. As Fred ate, Luna searched the room for his brother, who she so desperately wanted to talk to. Her eyes scanned the room several times over but he was clearly not there. When she looked back at Fred he was looking at her and had known exactly who she was looking for. ''He didn't look much happier at Quidditch, but then again we all looked pretty miserable so...'' Luna looked worriedly down at her lap, hoping to hide her concern from Fred, but he knew her better than that. Placing a comforting hand on her shoulder, he got her to look up at him before reassuring her, ''He's George, I'm sure he's fine. But you know the reasons he's probably so annoyed is because he hasn't seen a certain perky blonde for almost two hours.'' A smile appeared on Luna's face and she looked as though she was about to launch out her seat, but one thing stopped her from going. ''When I came in he was in the courtyard,'' Fred informed her. With that Luna was up and walking as fast as she could of the building.

* * *

The cool breeze had done little to ease George's mood as he sat in one of the courtyard's archways. Having endured a double study period in the deserted common room, during which he had broken five quills in his frustration, and then the world's most pointless Quidditch practice, George was beginning to feel as though he was experiencing the day from hell. Just when he was certain that nothing would be able to lighten his mood a glimpse of long blonde hair appeared in the corner of his eye.

''Hello stranger,''

George couldn't help but mirror the soft smile Luna gave him as she leaned against the stone courtyard wall. ''Trust me, you'd prefer not having me around today.''

''I don't think so.'' Luna could see that George was beginning to put up a mental barrier between them, not wanting to involve her with his problems, but Luna doubted that she would be in a completely good mood again unless she managed to lift George's spirits. ''I've never seen anyone get to you like this before George. What did she do?''

A humourless chuckle escaped him, ''She said I should be more like Percy.'' Despite the simplicity of the problem Luna knew just how much that small factor could affect George in such a way. He rarely gave a second thought to Percy let alone ever mention him, but when he occasionally did, almost every other word was a curse word. It was safe to say that Percy was most definitely a sore subject.

''Then she's a very foolish woman.''

''That's one thing I could call her.'' A hint of humour was apparent in his voice and Luna could easily imagine what some of those names were – and the look of horror on Molly Weasley's face if she ever heard him say them.

When Luna came out of those thoughts she found George staring off into the distance at nothing in particular. Whenever she did that it was because she was imagining herself in some far-away place or she was picturing one of the many creatures her father had told her about when she was growing up – but she doubted that George was doing either of those things. Not knowing what to say, Luna wrapped her arms around George's shoulders and rested her chin on his shoulder, a silent message that told him that she would wait for him to talk about it if he wanted to.

''Thank you Luna,'' He kissed her temple and covered her hands with his as her long hair was wisped around by the soft wind.

''I haven't done anything.''

''You must have done something because I feel a hell of a lot better,'' he smiled.

''In that case you're very welcome.'' It was surprising how much one smile could affect her, but seeing that grin on George's face suddenly elated Luna's mood. She was about to ask if he wanted to go inside and eat when a very familiar forced cough was heard from behind them. The sight of Umbridge standing behind them sent George's good mood away in an instant.

''Is something wrong Professor?'' Luna asked, knowing that George would probably explode with anger if he spoke to the toad-faced woman.

''Nothing will be wrong once you two cease this indecent public display.'' George looked down at Luna's arms as she pulled them away from his shoulders and then looked back up at Umbridge as if to say 'are you serious'.

As Luna moved slightly, making a small gap of space between her and George, Umbridge appeared to be satisfied that the 'public display' had been dealt with and then started for a pair of sixth year Hufflepuffs who appeared to be getting to know each other rather well up on the opposite wall of the courtyard.

''I can understand why she would have a problem with those two,'' Luna commented. Even when she and George were in private she was certain that they weren't as bad as the two Hufflepuffs who were now receiving a rather embarrassing interruption from Umbridge. ''But I'd hardly call what we were doing 'indecent'.

George muttered something under his breath that Luna couldn't quite make out, but the glare he was aiming at Umbridge indicated that whatever he said was aimed at her. At that moment even Luna found herself giving Umbridge a few nicknames since she had literally just got George back into a good mood before the pink-wearing witch had come along and reversed it. Firstly Luna considered trying the same tactic that she had before to cheer him up, but she doubted it would work again. Instead, Luna thought of a place where she often went to deal with mixed up feelings and problems.

George was still glaring in Umbridge's direction when he felt fingers link themselves with his as Luna pulled him away from the courtyard. As Luna lead him across the school grounds George found himself constantly wondering where she was taking him, yet he never voiced the question out loud. Finally he found himself a small way into one of the many woods that surrounded the castle where they were far enough in for the many tree branches to shade much of the midday sunlight, but not far enough in for the occasional sunray to bleed through and shine onto the leaf-covered ground.

''Luna, what are we doing here?''

She was stood several feet ahead, facing away from him, looking at something in front of her. George watched as, for no apparent reason, Luna lifted her arm and appeared to place her hand on something in front of her , but George saw nothing there for her to put her hand against.

''Luna, what-''

''I've never shown anybody this place before. I've always liked to think of it as a place of my own: where no one else can find me; where I can come and think and feel anything I want.''

''And how come you're showing me this place now?'' George took several steps forward and continued to watch as Luna stared up at something with a small smile. If George didn't know better he would have guessed that she was looking up at an animal of some sorts – a horse, perhaps.

''Whenever I come here I always feel better. I'm not sure what it is – it might just be the fresh air, but everything always seems better after being here. I figured that you could probably use a place like this with everything that's happening.'' George moved to stand beside her and finally, she turned away from the empty space she had previously been looking at, and looked at him. ''I spent a lot of time here before you and I were together; trying to convince myself that I loved you as a friend, nothing more. Luckily for you, this place can make me feel better, but it cannot change the feelings I actually have.''

George smiled down at her as he listened to the sound of the rustling leaves and felt the cooling breeze rustle his flaming hair. He had been stood in this place for only a minute or so and already he felt the effect that Luna was talking about. Suddenly Umbridge seemed so insignificant, and what she said or thought didn't matter to him at all. ''You were definitely right about this place Luna.'' Luna smiled before returning her attention forwards. ''Umm, Luna, what are you doing?''

For a moment Luna looked at him as though she didn't understand the question, then her eyes widened and understanding crossed her features. ''I forgot you couldn't see them.'' George's confusion only grew and the look on his face caused Luna to chuckle. ''This is a Thestral.'' She looked up and smiled at the place where George assumed the Thestral was stood.

''Why can't I see it? Is it some sort of invisible thing that your Dad told you about.'' George wondered sceptically.

''No,'' There was a hint of sadness in her voice now and her soft features suddenly looked so young and vulnerable to George. ''They are visible only to those who have seen death. I can see them because of Mum.''

George gave Luna a moment, knowing the distant look in her eyes meant that she was thinking about her mother. She blinked as though returning to the present, and then looked back at George.

''When did you find these things?'' He couldn't help but sound weary. The idea that Luna had come across some creature that he couldn't even see, that could possibly be threatening to her, did alarm him somewhat.

''I had to do something with my lunchtimes while you were at Quidditch practice. One lunchtime, first year, I decided to have a walk through the trees and I found this place, and I saw them. I admit they aren't the most beautiful creatures, but I knew they weren't dangerous.''

''How d'you know?''

''I just did. Intuition, perhaps. Afterwards I went to the library and after searching through a few books, I finally found a picture of them and read that they were Thestrals – creatures that are very rare and considered incredibly dangerous by the Ministry-''

George raised his eyebrows, ''So you thought it would be a good idea to come back and become friends with the bloody things.''

''These are clearly tamed. Do you really think Dumbledore would allow for dangerous creatures to remain on the grounds?'' She asked rhetorically. ''But considering the way people were already treating me, I decided that it would be nicer to keep quiet - for this place to be just mine, and now yours too.''

The wide smile Luna offered him was infectious and he quickly found himself grinning back at her. He was certain that he was going to have to look up these Thestrals so he could see what they looked like, but regardless of that, he knew Luna had just let him into a place that was very important for her.

''I think we need to be heading back for the castle now,'' Luna gestured to the castle's clock tower which loomed high above them.

''Great,'' George deadpanned as Luna linked her arm through his and began to drag him back towards the building.

''We've got double Transfiguration,'' Luna said, hoping to ease George's reluctance to return to school by reminding him that the only lesson he had left was one of the only subjects he could actually tolerate.

''Alright,'' George allowed Luna to walk with him now without dragging his feet as they went. ''Maybe this year won't be a complete nightmare.''

**Okay so I'm not entirely happy with this chapter but I didn't want to waste time more time on this chapter when I could be working on the next. Hopefully I'm just being overly-critical and it isn't that bad.**

**Thanks to everyone for reading. Lisa x**


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